Nielsen released a new report covering the month of June 2012 looking at smartphones as a tool for shoppers. No surprise, nearly half of American smartphone owners (47 percent) used a shopping app in June. The report said 45 million smartphone owners used apps in the shopping or commerce category, accessing shopping apps 17 times on average during the month.

"Retailers are finding that consumers are willing to use smartphone apps to enhance their shopping experience, and this data shows usage of shopping apps is growing," said Don Kellogg, director of telecom insights at Nielsen.

Well-known brands known for online shopping benefitted the most from smartphone use. In June, the eBay and Amazon apps were the most popular. Amazon's app was used by 12 million unique users while eBay's app attracted 13 million unique users, respectively. Traditional retailers like Target and Walgreens received significant mobile traffic as well, according to Nielsen.

More than 10 million users visited daily deal sites like Groupon and LivingSocial in June 2012. Shopkick, Out of Milk and RedLaser were also on Nielsen's list of top 10 shopping apps in June.

"As more Americans use their smartphones while shopping and making purchases directly through apps, retailers should consider personalizing their targeted offerings around the needs of individual consumers,” Kellogg said.

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