Growth of Mobile Commerce ….. the Consumer

As devices become smarter and the user experience becomes faster, easier and more secure, so UK shoppers are beginning to make more purchases via their mobile devices.

Data published in October 2012 from a new tracking initiative by IMRG highlights the growth of the mobile commerce sector in the UK.

During Q2 2011 visits to e-commerce sites from mobile devices accounted for 7% of overall traffic, up from an average of 1.4% in Q1 2010.

The research also shows that UK mobile shoppers are buying more and are now making 3.3% of e-commerce purchases from mobile devices. This is an increase from 0.4% at the beginning of 2010.

UK mobile owners are making more purchases from their devices and are also using them when visiting offline stores.

According to Intersperience, 8% of UK adults buy through their mobile phones, while 21% intend to in the future. Comparatively, a smaller percentage (7%) of under-18s currently make purchases via mobile but 33% plan to in the future.

Mobile is also clearly playing a big part on purchases made in shops. Our Mobile Planet data sees 24% of UK smartphone owners taking their phones shopping with them in order to compare prices and inform themselves about products.

Additionally, mobile devices are on the cusp of becoming more than an in-store information source, with the release of apps and features allowing users to make payments through their devices instead of using cash or card.

Despite 24% of UK adults being in agreement that mobile phones are more likely to be stolen than wallets, Intersperience data shows that 17% would be keen to use their devices for payments. Again, youngsters are more eager, with 25% of under-18s keen to replace their wallets with mobiles at the cash register.

From a marketing point of view however, there is still a significant amount of catch-up to be done for mobile commerce to become as trusted as PC-based mobile commerce.

Look out for part three of this 3 part post when we look at the role the retailer plays in the growth of m-commerce.

Thanks

themobileexpert