Mobile Commerce Trends
With increasing smartphone penetration in consumers’ lives, it’s no surprise that more and more people have been shopping on their mobile devices.
As an ecommerce owner, it’s not enough to know the amount of internet traffic that’s mobile. It’s also important to know what exactly buyers are using their phones for when mobile shopping.
A recent survey on mobile commerce trends shows that mobile shopping currently contributes to a large part of global ecommerce sales. Thirty-one percent of consumers taking part in the survey say they shop or browse for products online on their mobile phones. In comparison, 51% of them do so using any device.
Comparing the latest mobile retail trends, this is the top activity by only a slight margin. Thirty percent of consumers surveyed use their mobile phones to purchase new or used products and/or services.
These mobile commerce trends also appear to indicate a strong preference for purchasing new products. Just 6% of consumers say they buy used items on their mobile devices.
Analysts say the increasing reliance on mobile commerce is part of the pivot toward online shopping, driven by the coronavirus pandemic. With many stores closed for weeks and even months in 2020 and 2021, virtual shopping reached record highs.
The latest statistics on mobile app downloads also show there’s demand for shopping via apps. Shopping apps are the fifth-most downloaded type of apps on the iOS App Store and seventh on Google Play.
Mobile commerce trends across the world
The reliance on mobile shopping varies from country to country.
Across the globe, the percentage of consumers engaging in mobile commerce every week averages 30.6%. In other words, nearly one in three people worldwide shop on their mobile devices at least once a week.
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The countries with the highest percentage of mobile shoppers are Malaysia and South Korea. As many as 44.6% of consumers there buy things on their mobile phones every week.
In the US, this number stands at 32.3%.
Mobile commerce trends: payment methods
One of the hottest mobile commerce trends to have also evolved in recent years is mobile payment methods—specifically, contactless options.
Recent data shows that more than one in four (22%) consumers today would like to see more stores offering the possibility to pay with mobile payment services such as Google Pay, Alipay, and Apple Pay.