More than 10million UK consumers have bought something at least once through mobile. According to a study by Tealeaf and Harris Interactive, 23% of consumers surveyed had carried out a transaction on their mobile in the past year, with the average shopper purchasing 4.4 times a month on mobile.
The study of 2228 UK adults found that of the 23% that had undertaken some form of m-commerce, 63% had bought goods, 37% had engaged with financial services. 34% had booked travel on mobile, and 23% had used the channel to buy or research insurance.
Intriguingly, 51% of those surveyed expect to get a better service from retailers on mobile than in bricks and mortar shops and 52% expect to get a better experience of shopping on mobile than on a desktop computer.
However, expectation and reality are not currently one and the same thing. The study found that 83% of shoppers fail to complete a transaction on mobile as they encounter a problem. Connectivity issues are part of the problem, but many consumers cite error messages, log in issues, getting caught in an “endless loop” and being “kicked off” sites as the commonest problems. This is particularly worrying as 75% of shoppers expect to complete a transaction first time.
Some 46% of buyers felt ‘frustrated’ when encountering difficulties, and 29% opted to try again later on a PC. A further 17% contacted customer services, 16% switched to a competitor, and 13% simply abandoned the planned acquisition altogether. More broadly, 66% of the sample would be less inclined to trade with the provider concerned through any channel in the event of a failure on mobile.
