Further evidence shows UK m-commerce market flourishing

Monday, October 18, 2010 - 14:43 by David Aiken

A recent report shows that more people than ever in the UK are using smartphones to further the m-commerce cause.

The Internet Advertising Bureau authorised a survey which found that just over half of all UK mobile owners, which equates to 23 million people, have used their handsets to search for items, buy goods or access the benefits of coupons.

More than 1000 people were questioned from across the UK as part of the study and it was found that 43 per cent of people surf the internet to look up information on products, while 40 per cent discovered the location, opening times and contact details of high street stores on their mobiles.

This report is being used as another indicator that retailers must increase their presence in the m-commerce market and hone their tools, so that safe shopping online can be carried out across multiple platforms with the same levels of usability.

If a consumer is able to easily discover information about a particular product then they are 16 per cent more likely to buy it, compared with someone who cannot get what they need because of overcomplicated m-commerce site layout, according to the study.

Thirty-seven per cent of respondents said that they had made payments directly using additions to their mobile billing and a third of this group paid out for apps and other downloadable media.

Twenty-seven per cent of those questioned said that they had made a secure online payment using services like PayPal or by entering their card details. Of this group, 19 per cent made payments via m-commerce sites offering safe shopping online.

 The dominance of smartphones in this sector was also clarified, with users of high tech handsets 63 per cent more likely to use m-commerce tools, than those without advanced capabilities.