Compass Intelligence Consumer Survey Finds That Mobile Phone Recycling Programs Continue to Gain Traction

SAN ANTONIO, May 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Strategy acceleration firm, Compass Intelligence released its latest report on "Mobile Phone Reuse and Recycling Survey: Understanding Consumer Behavior" today. Over the past three years, Compass Intelligence has tracked the burgeoning mobile phone buy back and recycling market. We have witnessed older programs receive makeovers and new companies like Apple, Walmart and Microsoft launch device trade in options in the market.

This survey offers our readers a chance to see whether end users are

1. taking advantage of the plethora of buyback offers;
2. selling back mobile devices or just recycling them; and
3. what the future holds for these programs as the market changes.

The survey was conducted using Compass Intelligence's Thought Leaders Panel. The survey was started by over 1,200 respondents and completed by 1,102 respondents (users under the age of 18 are disqualified). The survey focused on mobile phone users (both smart phones and feature phones) to understand their preferences and experience with phone recycling.

"When we first conducted this research in 2011, less than 11 percent of respondents had any experience with recycling phones," said Kate Pearce, Sr. Consultant and Lead Analyst in the Reuse and Recycling research track at Compass Intelligence. "This time around, the number has shot up and we believe that 25 percent of respondents have recycled a phone."

Carrier programs (both in-store and online) have led phone recycling efforts in the past. However, with increasing competition from large retailers, this lead has eroded away and consumers have numerous options to recycle devices. Increasingly, Amazon has gained momentum with its recycling program and is currently one of the market leaders.

The end-user research was conducted using Compass Intelligence Thought Leaders Panel, which has a large database of over 3,000 end users and decision-makers in the U.S. For more information about our Thought Leaders Panel, click here.

Highlights from the report:

• Device recycling rates are on the rise; however, Compass Intelligence still sees mobile phone recycling rates (including both recycling for an incentive and for no pay out) around 25%.
• End users take advantage of in-store recycling opportunities over online.
• Carriers remain a key program option for our survey respondents.
• Cash is the number one incentive option for end users, according to this survey.  Only a few programs in the market offer a cash option.
  • Customers are also interested in PayPal payments as they are similar to cash.
• For those respondents not participating in recycling programs, they think the phone has no value and would consider going through the process a waste of time.

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About Bamboo Mobile

Bamboo Mobile, www.bamboo-mobile.com, is an information resource designed to offer news, research, and insight around mobile device reuse and recycling. Bamboo Mobile promotes device reuse and recycling as well as other sustainability efforts going on in the mobile industry. Bamboo Mobile explores issues around customer awareness, provides program rankings, and examines creative device recycling (and reuse) efforts and more. Visit Bamboo at www.bamboo-mobile.com and follow us at @bamboomobile

About Compass Intelligence

Compass Intelligence, a market analytics and consulting firm, specializes in strategy acceleration and insights for the high-tech and telecom industries while providing clients tailored services through excellent customer support. Compass Intelligence provides executive insights, market sizing/modeling, competitive analysis, strategic consulting, and expert recommendations on multiple markets. Visit us at http://www.compassintelligence.com.  Follow Compass Intelligence on Twitter at @CompassIntel

Media Contact:
Dilip Sarangan
Director of Marketing & Operations, Compass Intelligence
(214) 274-6747
[email protected] 

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SOURCE Compass Intelligence