M-Commerce Predicted To Reach New Highs Before Christmas

Digital Web
Mobile ecommerce security

M-commerce in the UK is likely to stage strong growth by Christmas this year as one in five online purchases are expected to be completed through mobile devices during the holiday season, new research I came across recently reveals.

According to the IMRG Capgemini Quarterly Benchmarking Index, a performance indicator of the UK e-retail industry developed by IMRG, mobile technologies will contribute 20% to total online sales by Christmas, with one in three visits to online shopping websites forecast to be made through such channels.

These predictions are based on the latest IMRG Capgemini Quarterly Benchmarking Index, which found that the share of purchases made through mobile channels went up to 11.6% in the second quarter of the year, from 8.2% in the previous three-month period. Site visits via mobile also marked an impressive increase in April-June 2012, achieving a 21.1% share of total visits against 16.4% in the first quarter. Visitor bounce rates touched their highest level of 29% as customers now tend to have higher requirements when accessing a site for the first time, while basket abandonment rates dropped 5% to 55%.

The upbeat outlook for mobile sales follows a bumper rise in m-commerce popularity across the UK. Since the start of 2010, online sales going through mobile devices have ballooned by 2,900%. M-commerce accounted for just 0.4% of online sales in the first quarter of 2010.

M-commerce’s future growth is now in the hands of consumers since the niche is guided chiefly by their demands, said Tina Spooner, chief information officer at IMRG.