Consumers’ mobile spend up 43.3%

New research released today by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) looks at consumers’ attitudes and opinions on M-Commerce. The study, which is the second wave of M-Commerce consumer research to be released by the IAB, was based on over 1,000 interviews (nationally representative sample of mobile owners).

The IAB partnered with research agency Work to look at 4 key areas of M-Commerce; researching on mobile, experience enhancement, purchasing direct to bill and purchasing on card / bank details. The study showed that although general M-Commerce uptake had been relatively flat from 2010-2011, the amount consumers were spending per transaction on mobile increased by £5.29, a rise of 43.3% to £17.49. The results also highlighted a change in the reasons why people use M-Commerce, as it moves away from being seen as an ‘experiment’ (25%), towards being the ‘easiest way to do it’ (42%).

Interestingly even though the barriers to using M-Commerce in 2011 remained much the same as in 2010 for consumers the feeling that mobile internet is ‘too expensive’ has reduced by 16% and the preference for PC over mobile has declined by 7%.

Websites are the preferred platform for M-Commerce with 40% preferring to go direct to a brands site to buy a product, compared to 17% preferring an app. Furthermore, consumers appear to spend more on sites, as the average transaction was £20.77 compared to just £13.15 via an app.

Near Field Communication (NFC) was seen as a positive move for mobile with 74% of consumers stating they felt the service would be a good idea. The products that M-Commerce consumers said they would be most happy to purchase via NFC were travel (57%), entrance fees (51%) and drinks/snacks (49%).

Alex Kozloff, senior mobile manager, IAB said “It has been interesting to see from this study that the same people who were using M-Commerce a year ago continue to use it in 2011- but this time are spending significantly bigger amounts on their mobile phone. Furthermore, there is clearly a consumer appetite to use M-Commerce in store, so it will be fascinating to see consumer adoption of NFC as the technology becomes more commonplace in the UK.”

Before the purchase: Research & Experience Enhancement

Transacting on mobile; Pay to bill & Pay to card/account

What are the barriers to using m-Commerce?

Why do consumers use M-Commerce?

Shopping on the mobile phone: sites vs apps