M-Commerce Apps Most Popular With UK Smartphone Users

I read this week a report from media and marketing researcher Arbitron, which suggested that in the UK smartphone owners use m-commerce apps more often than Americans or other European consumers.

The research showed that m-commerce apps are popular with 66.8% of Britons owning a smart device, above the 57.6% in Germany, 55.9% in the US and 52.5% in France.

Britons are also leaders in terms of m-commerce session numbers, with 54.5 sessions a month on average, which is about 50% higher than the number registered in all western markets monitored.

UK smartphone users also spend more time on m-commerce apps, staying on average 134.8 minutes with an application running on their device. Americans, meanwhile, spend 91 minutes per month over 30.8 sessions, Germans dedicate 74.3 minutes a month to m-commerce apps over 32.1 sessions, while in France consumers stay 56.1 minutes a month with an app across 23.9 sessions.

The most popular m-commerce app in the UK is eBay, which is used by around 44% of Arbitron’s mobile panelists for some 144 minutes each month. Next comes Amazon Mobile, which was however used by just 16% of Britons for 29.1 minutes a month, followed by Groupon, Nectar and Maximiles.

The results once again prove Britons’ increasing interest in new distribution channels, as well as their remarkable acumen in technology, Andreas Piani, general manager of European Arbitron Mobile, told Mobile Commerce Daily when asked to comment on the findings. The results should also encourage retailers to capitalise on the huge popularity of mobile and make sure that their marketing strategy provides for efficient interaction with consumers across the various platforms, he said.