How Mobile Can Be a Bridge to In-Store Shopping

A recent Google research project found that 80 percent of searches on smartphones are spontaneous, and nearly half of those are goal-oriented. Often those goals are purchases and, to Jonathan Alferness, this is evidence of mobile's role as a bridge — and an extremely valuable one — from the digital world to the physical one. "We're starting to drive meaningful value that wasn't possible on desktop," said Mr. Alferness, director of product management, mobile ads lead at Google, in a recent interview. "We're driving users to actual, physical retail stores to buy something."