mobileu.co.uk

Record numbers of people make mobile purchases

Retail industry figures have shown that a record number of people are now turning to their smartphones to make online purchases – or at least to research what it is they want to buy.

Industry research firm, ForeSee Results, said that one of its recent surveys found that around 32 per cent of people they questioned have at some point used their mobile phone to view store sites, while a further 32 per cent expect to do so at some point in the near future.

While the percentage of people who actually made purchases on their phones remains low – just eight per cent of people said they had done so – the figure was more than four times the figure for 2009, when less than two per cent of people said they had actually bought something on their phone.

ForeSee Result's vice president of retail strategy, Kevin Ertell, said that the numbers were a lesson to retailers not to skimp on developing mobile retail platforms.

"Companies cannot afford to ignore or even neglect the mobile experience and assume it won't hurt their traditional online or in-store business," he emphasised, pointing out that the bar for consumer expectations is being set very high by the best websites and the best mobile experiences.