Mobile shopping habits revealed

Thursday, July 17, 2014 - 09:44 by Paul Tissington

A gaggle of new statistics relating to m-commerce have emerged so far this month from various sources, showing just how important the ability to carry out safe shopping online from a portable device has become for Brits.

In a survey conducted by xAd and Telmetrics, it was revealed that although the vast majority of people in the UK have a desktop or laptop PC available to them at home, 60 per cent still choose to use their smartphone when browsing the web and shopping online while they are around the house.

Forty six per cent said that they would choose to use their smartphone to make an online purchase more often than any other platform, suggesting that perhaps there will come a point soon when m-commerce is the dominant area of web-based retail.

When it comes to the types of devices which are being used to indulge in safe shopping online, there has been an interesting shift away from Apple?s iPhone in the past two years.

While back in 2012, about three quarters of all m-commerce purchases were generated by the iPhone alone, this has slipped to just 50.6 per cent in 2014, mostly thanks to the rise of Samsung as a key rival to Apple's throne, according to a Custora study.

Smartphones are still more widely used for m-commerce than tablets, although when looking at tablet-based purchases alone, it is still Apple that leads the way with its iPad. Samsung holds in second place, ahead of Amazon?s Kind Fire in third.

The shift away from desktop shopping may not continue with the same rate of growth that it has enjoyed in recent years, but the age of m-commerce is by no means done with expanding, especially now that 4G is rolling out across the British Isles.