Research by search agency Tamar suggests that 19% of consumers will use mobile – including tablets – to buy goods in the run up to Christmas, while a study by Tesco Direct suggests a more pragmatic one in 10 Brits will do their online Christmas shopping using their mobile phone rather than a computer this year.
Busy work schedules and hectic lives will see millions of bargain-hunters use their smartphone to find the latest deals for Christmas presents, both sets of research show. But Tamar’s suggests that concerns over security and complexity of payments means the 19% figure should be far higher.
Tamar finds that adults aged 25 to 34 were most likely to use mobile to do their Christmas shopping, with 29% saying that they would buy using their phone this season. Meanwhile an impressive 18% of 35 to 44-year-olds, and 20% of 45 to 54-year-olds indicating they would be shopping on mobile for Christmas.
According to Tesco, nearly half of mobile shoppers will shop online using their phones while watching TV, one in six expect to buy something on their phone while sat on the bus and a quarter will log on to shopping sites through their mobiles during their daily commute.
The most reluctant mobile shopping adopters, according to Tamar, were the over 55s, with 10% intending to buy over the air. 18 to 24-year-olds were almost as reluctant to buy via mobile, with just 11% indicating they would.
“Tesco Direct is expecting to ship more than 80,000 items on Manic Monday as we face our busiest day of the year for online orders,” says Ian Crook, CMO for tesco.com. “For the first time this year we anticipate a significant amount of these orders to be placed by customers using their mobile phones, because customers like the convenience of shopping on the go.”
Tesco’s nationwide poll of 4000 consumers found that 78% are planning to do at least some of their Christmas shopping online this year and seven in ten think it’s the best way to buy presents. More than a third (36%) said using their mobile would reduce stress levels and mean they could fit shopping in and around their busy lives.
Crook continues: “In October alone, we had more than half a million people visit the Tesco Direct website using their mobile phones and in the run up to Christmas we’re expecting this number to surge as people order their gifts from Tesco Direct. Our new mobile web service makes it easier for our customers to search for and buy presents at competitive prices and as our research shows it has potential to take away some of the stress of shopping.”
Simply avoiding the Christmas crowds was the biggest reason for turning to the internet, with 71% saying they can’t stand battling queues in the shops. Another 44% like to use the web to search for the best price.
And while they were grilling innocent people in the street, Tesco also asked them some more general questions about Christmas shopping and, since we are careering towards the Yule at some speed – and for a bit of light relief from mobile – here’s what the great British public think about Christmas shopping in 2010:
• In the lead up to Christmas, 73 per cent are worried about the escalating cost of it all as they face tight budgets
• Six in ten don’t know what to buy people
• Half are stressed around Christmas
• Nearly half (45 per cent) said they struggle fitting present shopping in around their job and family commitments
• Seven per cent admitted to online shopping it when they should be working, and one in ten will hit the online shops during their lunch hours
• Two thirds polled said they typically leave their shopping to the last minute
• Online shopping saves the average Brit six hours of traipsing around the high street
