Nearly 30% of European online shoppers are using, or plan to use, mobile devices for some kind of e-commerce in the coming year, with 10% already using their mobile/smart phones for retail search, price comparison or online purchasing. Another 20% are planning to do so the future. So finds a study of 1500 people across the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain carried out by IDC for Akamai Technologies.
As well as finding that a third of consumers are game for m-retailing, the study also concluded that those engaged in multi-channel retail involving mobile spend between 15 and 30% more than single channel users.
The research, which also looked at online shopping also found that 30% of shopper will be increasing their online spending during 2010, with the fastest growing e-commerce market in Europe being Spain, where 44% of consumers reported a willingness to spend more online.
The study also found that 62% of respondents purchased clothes and footwear online, making this the largest category of spend in the survey – followed by more ‘traditional’ online items such as books and magazines (59%), with online travel accounting at 47% of spend. The group of highest spenders online in Europe, each spending around €1500 per year, tend to be aged between 35 to 54 years.
Speaking about the research, Martin Haering, VP of International Marketing at Akamai, said: “These findings show that consumers in Europe are pushing the edges of e-commerce, demanding greater performance from their online shopping experience. With increasing numbers of shoppers going online with mobile devices, it is important for retailers to get their mobile e-commerce strategies right the first time and the need for security, website performance, scalability and availability has never been more important to underpin success in the online marketplace.”
Ivano Ortis, Research Director at IDC Retail Insights, who carried-out the research, said: “e-commerce sales keep growing – despite the recession online sales grew by over 20% in 2009 – and the market is rapidly diversifying. Categories of goods that were previously thought to be for in-store shopping only are making remarkable inroads online – for example apparel & footwear. Basket size is increasing, as is the level of services and support that customers are expecting from e-commerce websites.”
