7th September 2015
admin
2 Minute ReadMobile shopping is here to stay. And it’s on the rise too. According to Ipsos and PayPal, the UK average compound annual growth rate between 2013 – 2016 for mobile spend is estimated at 36%. However, the overall online spend has increased by only 10%. With the importance of mobile shopping well established, you’d expect the top online stores to do everything they can to embrace this trend, right?
Wrong. Recent data suggests otherwise.
Just the facts…
According to a study by RetailMeNot and the Centre for Retail Research, UK online retail sales are expected to hit £52.25bn this year.
And while the annual growth rate for mobile spend is estimated at 36%, the numbers are slightly misleading. As a percentage of UK online spending, only 8% shop on smartphones and 6% on tablets. Conversely, 86% of people still shop on their desktops, laptops and notebooks.
However, the upsurge is only set to continue. Why exactly? According to Paypal, a third of people have shunned mobile shopping due to small smartphone screens, 30% had security concerns and 12% struggled with their network connection. Whil these are big issues now, they will reduce over time as technology improves and people upgrade to new smartphones. Moreover, the surge in mobile shopping is currently driven by young adults, so numbers will only increase as new generations of shoppers come through.
Riding the mobile wave … or not!
What is surprising, however, is that the UK’s top retailers refuse to move with the trend towards mobile technology. Recent data from Somo shows that 20% of top UK retailers don’t have a transactional mobile site, while nearly half do not have a page that is optimised for tablet technology. Over a quarter don’t even have iOS or Android apps.
Surprising, right? Here are the numbers from the report:
- 40% don’t have a mobile store locator.
- 20% don’t have a site for mobile transactions.
- 30% haven’t got an iOS app and 28% don’t have an Android app.
- 44% haven’t optimised their websites for tablets.
- 46% don’t have a responsive website design.
With the facts in place, why are the UK’s top retailers ignoring mobile shoppers?
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Resistance is futile
Although many of the UK’s top retailers are reluctant to accept a trend towards mobile shopping, the figures suggest resistance is futile. And while some consumers prefer in-store shopping, the trends in payment processes suggest that mobile shopping will eventually eclipse traditional online spending.
The rate of mobile shoppers is set to increase too, with more and more consumers obtaining smartphones and using them to make payments. It may take a little while yet, but the age of mobile shopping is on the up.