Apple devices dominate UK m-commerce market

Thursday, February 23, 2012 - 14:05 by David Aiken

People who carry out safe shopping online in the UK from their smartphone or tablet are more likely to be using an Apple iPhone or iPad than a device from any other manufacturer, according to a study from BaseKit.

Sixty-six per cent of all m-commerce transactions are carried out using one of this Californian manufacturer's portable gadgets, which indicates just how dominant it has become in this emerging market.

However, when looking at the whole of the UK's online retail industry, both tablets and smartphones are still accountable for only a small percentage.

Four per cent of consumers have shopped using a tablet device and just two per cent have done so using a smartphone, according to the study.

Within these groupings, Apple is unsurprisingly ahead of the curve, with the iPad range contributing 76 per cent of all tablet sales via safe shopping online.

Interestingly, the number of people using m-commerce platforms from tablets slightly exceeds the number shopping from their desktop or laptop Mac computer, which sits at 3.7 per cent.

Some might be surprised at the relatively low number of people who are using their portable devices for online shopping, but all it really indicates is that this is a market with the potential for major growth over the coming months and years.

PCs running a version of the Windows operating system are still by far the dominant force, taking up 84 per cent of the UK e-commerce market. Conversely, the Windows Phone platform remained entirely unrepresented in the sample of 1,000 people who were questioned as part of the survey, which shows that Microsoft has some work to do when it comes to m-commerce.

M-commerce usage is higher amongst the young, with almost 10 per cent of 25-34 year olds using a tablet or smartphone to shop online.