The next time your date or significant other excuses himself to visit the restroom, he may be shopping for your gift.
More than 38 million Americans shop online while on the toilet , according to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive for CashStar, a digital gift card company. And men are more likely to shop in the bathroom than women. The figures quoted in the study reflect the number of 2,104 online adults who said they shopped in a specified location as a percentage of the U.S. Census Bureau's 2011 population estimate.
Thanks to the portability of mobile devices, people are shopping in some pretty odd places.
Along with bathrooms, respondents also confessed to shopping in the boardroom. More than 9 million Americans admitted they have secretly shopped while in a business meeting.
Despite the known dangers of driving and using smartphones, more than 4 million shop while navigating traffic.
Shopping in a store does not hamper mobile shopping for more than 17 million Americans. Multitasking now includes filling grocery carts at the same time as online shopping carts. People living on the West Coast are more likely to shop on their phones while they walk the aisles as their East Coast counterparts, CashStar said.
Mobile shopping apps continue to grow, and big retailers such as Walmart are offering apps to shoppers that they can use in the store. For the first time, Walmart mobile users will be able to get directions for in-store locations of Black Friday items as soon as they enter their local Walmart stores. For more tech holiday shopping helpers, read 4 New Tools for Black Friday Shopping.