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Retail

Mobile Shopping More Popular In The U.K. Than U.S.A

By April 20, 2012July 30th, 2023No Comments

A study of the shopping habits of users has found that consumers in the U.K. are more likely to spend money on mobile shopping than those in the U.S.A.

The study, conducted by RichRelevance has found that mobile accounts in the U.K. account for 9.1% of all e-commerce sales, compared with 4.6% in the U.S.

The study was conducted between the 1st of January and the 25th of March 2012, and was based on more than 1.1 billion shopping sessions in the U.K. and the U.S.

In the month of March, mobile accounted for 9.1% of all UK e-commerce sales, while that figure was only 8.2% during Christmas 2011, which is traditionally regarded as the  peak shopping season. The average value of purchases through mobiles was £109.68, while it was only £100.05 on desktops during the same month.

Among all mobile devices used to carry out a transaction, the iPad had the highest market share with 82% of mobile spend. Purchases on iPhones averaged £135.63 compared to £119 on other mobile devices, £111.41 on the iPad and only £107.70 on desktop in the U.K. In contrast, the average order value in the U.S. was $158 on iPads, $105 on other mobile devices and $104 on the iPhone.

Conversion rates, however, were the highest on desktops at 3.6%, compared with 2.9% for iPads, 1.2% for iPhones and only1% for other devices.

It was also found that those using the iPad had the longest shopping sessions, with an average of 9.89 page views per session, compared to 8.86 pages on desktop, 5.16 pages on other mobile devices and 4.34 pages on iPhones.

Interestingly the iPad’s shopping sessions over weekends are at 10%, but during the week they are only 8.2%. It was also found that peak shopping occurs on Wednesday and Sunday and at 4pm, 8pm and 10pm, indicating that people conduct this activity mostly during their leisure hours.

Even though mobile shopping in the U.K. is growing faster than in the U.S.A, the numbers on both sides of the Atlantic are no longer insignificant. Mobile shopping is growing in both regions. The question on top of all marketers’ minds should be “is our site ready for mobile?”