UK pay-as-you-go mobile users spend up to two weeks a year surfing retail sites on their phones – a third more time than iPhone users

UK pay-as-you-go mobile phone users are spending up to two weeks a year browsing retail sites on their mobiles – more than third longer than their iPhone-based contract compadres – despite most retailers not doing enough to offer a seamless and pleasant mobile experience, according to a study out this week.

Velti, a global provider of mobile marketing and advertising solutions, conducted a UK-wide consumer retail survey and found that pay-as-you-go (PAYG) mobile users spend an average of 13 days a year browsing retail sites on their mobile devices.

The point that PAYG users are spending over a third longer browsing mobile retail sites than their contract/iPhone counterparts (eight days a year), presents a significant opportunity for retailers to incentivize those browsers and convert them into paying customers.

However, it seems making this connection may not be as straight forward as it sounds. The research revealed that high street brands are lagging behind when it comes to mobile retail. 66% of iPhone users and 47% of all consumers surveyed believe that high street retailers are not doing a good enough job where mobile is concerned.

This is supported by the fact that when it came down to naming three stores consumers had made purchases from in the last 12 months, Amazon and eBay dominated with 50% share split evenly between them, whereas Tesco (7%), Argos (4%), HMV (2%), Asda (2%) and Next (1%) all failed to make a significant impact with consumers.

Consumers did, however, reveal how retailers can tempt them to make further purchases. Almost 50% of the consumers, who had received a targeted SMS from a retailer or brand, then went on to buy something from that specific retailer.

The research also revealed how mobile is working in harmony with other media when it comes to marketing and advertising campaigns. 82% of consumers, who used their mobile while watching TV, researched further details around a product or service on their mobile devices after having seen an advertisement on TV.

Kelaine Olvera, Director of Marketing across Europe at Velti commented: “We commissioned this survey to examine how consumers are using their mobile devices when it comes to retail. While some of the results were reasonably predictable, many others demonstrated just how far consumers are ahead of retailers when it comes to mobile.”

Kelaine continued: “Pay-As-You-Go users, arguably a demographic often disregarded by retailers, are spending almost two weeks a year browsing retail sites, which is a phenomenal amount of time. It wouldn’t take much further engagement from a retailer’s point of view to convert them from browsers into customers. At Velti, this is exactly the kind of work we’ve been doing with brands across the globe, helping to increase engagement with their existing and potential new customers in order to help drive revenues and brand loyalty.”

The online survey was answered by approximately 1,800 mobile phone users, age 18 to 65 from across the UK.