Now in its third year, the Mobile Path to Purchase survey by xAd has seen steady increases in the centrality and importance of mobile devices in consumer shopping behavior. According to the study, mobile now exceeds the PC as the most important purchase research tool.

Since 2013, the study has found that the importance of the PC among consumers for purchase research has decreased six percentage points while mobile has increased two points, representing a swing in importance of eight points in favor of mobile devices. This shift to mobile has similarly been documented in other studies as it relates to local search and seeking local information.

The study also pointed to a mobile only population. In some key verticals xAd found that smartphones were the only internet device used to support purchase decision making. For instance, nearly two thirds of restaurant searchers and 1 in 6 car buyers were relying solely on their phones for research and information.

The data comes from xAd’s 2015 Mobile Path to Purchase report which polled 3,000 US and UK smartphone users who have used mobile to help make a purchase decision in the past 30 days. To download the report, click here. For access to a full size version of the featured graphic above, click here.