Mobile commerce is growing rapidly in the UK and Germany with an increasing number of consumersusing their mobile devices for online shopping, according to research by the respective e-retail
associations of the two countries, IMRG and bvh.In the UK, sales via mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) made up 20% of overall onlineretail sales during the first quarter of 2013, up from 15.4% during the previous quarter. Thisgrowth is probably due to the dramatic increase in tablet-owners following strong sales of thedevices last Christmas.
The percentage of e-retail website visits via mobile devices also rose considerably with almost1 in 3 (30%) of total visits conducted via smartphones or tablets during the first three months ofthis year, up from 24% during the fourth quarter of 2012.
Growth rates of mobile commerce in the UK have been increasing faster than expected. While salesvia mobile devices accounted only for 0.9% of total e-retail sales in 2010, the share went up to 4%in 2011 and surged dramatically to 12% in 2012. Growing even faster, mobile website visitsaccounted for 2.6% of total e-retail visits in 2010 increasing to 8.2% in 2011 and reached 21.3%last year.
Tina Spooner, Chief Information Officer at IMRG, said: “Mobile is clearly a game-changer for theUK e-retail industry, with m-retail sales increasing at more than double the levels we saw in theearly 2000s when IMRG started tracking online sales. At the beginning of 2010, mobile salesaccounted for just 0.4% of the UK e-retail market – within three years it has surged a staggering5,000%, with m-retail now accounting for one in every 5 online purchases.
“With the continuing shift away from desktop to mobile internet use, it is inevitable we willsee the latter platform outstrip desktop PCs as the preferred device for shopping online, and fromthe latest figures it is apparent this may be sooner than expected,” she concluded.
In Germany, 40% of all smartphone users are using their phone for shopping as well compared to32% in 2012, according to bvh’s survey “Mobile shopping and payment via smartphones”.
Especially younger people aged 18-29 are increasingly using their smartphones for shoppingaccounting for 56%. From the gender perspective, men are ahead of women with 43%. But in theyear-on-year comparison, the percentage of women shopping via their smartphones increased to 35.9%this year, a 9.2% increase on the last year. Especially those consumers working full-time and withlittle time available for shopping are likely to switch to mobile shopping with 47.3% doing so thisyear (2012: 33.1%).
The smartphone penetration rate reached 50% in Germany by the end of 2012 and the trend iscontinuing as more and more mobile devices are sold.
The most common form of payment for purchases via smartphones in Germany is by using mobilepayment services. Some 44% pay this way, 3% more than last year, while 42% purchase on account orby credit card.
But only 12% of smartphone owners use their own network provider for payment which equals adecrease of 3% on last year. The positive development of mobile payment service providers is alsoreflected this year for the first time in the increasing number of users aged over 40. Especiallythe older age group of users has recorded considerable growth of 7.9% with 43.4% using onlinepayment services this year, compared to only 35.5% last year.
