In Europe, mobile phones are already a regular means of payment, as fixed as buying in physical stores; 80% of Europeans use their mobile phones for payment, and 41% use them even more frequently or even daily. These are the results of a pan-European survey involving over 18,000 respondents. The research was organized by Mastercard and was conducted by Innofact’s market research company.
Four out of ten Europeans buy mobile phones at least once a week
A significant number of frequent users of mobile shopping in Europe: for example, in the UK and Germany, almost half of the respondents buy mobile phones once a week or more often (47%), while in Europe this percentage is 39%. Generally speaking, mobile purchases account for a quarter of total trade (24%), according to figures obtained from 18,000 respondents.
Even festive purchases move to mobile phones
Nearly three quarters (72%) of respondents plan to use their mobile phones during holiday shopping. Most likes to buy gifts from home with sofa (82%) or from bed (25%). However, people also take advantage of mobile payments such as speed and ease of use and use breaks during the day to make fast Christmas shopping: a significant number of gifts are purchased while the user is waiting for public transport (19%), while at work (18%) , or during lunch break (9%). When respondents chose their three most favorite holiday shopping dates, the majority of Europeans listed work days rather than weekends. The most popular time (49%) is during the working day (17-21h). However, a large number of Christmas gifts are purchased on weekdays from 12-17h (42%) and from 9-12h (31%).
Speed and simplicity are crucial for mobile shopping.
Europeans point out the various reasons why they like to buy phones: most commonly these are speeds (44%), one-click purchase (33%), simpler navigation (30%) and greater security (14%). Respondents in the UK (22%), Ireland (21%), Spain and France (20%) consider higher security as the key reason for buying phones, while respondents in Poland (63%), Germany (59%) and Switzerland (56%) They value the speed most.
Clothes and fashion accessories are the most popular items
More than half of Europeans (54%) have already bought clothing via mobile devices, and in Germany this figure is as high as 68%. Electronic devices are in second place with 40%. For some items such as public transport tickets, there are major differences between markets: almost half of Swiss people buy tickets for public transport by telephone (48%), while this figure in Russia is only 17%. As far as parking is concerned, 44% of Swedes are paying it by mobile phone, while this number in Germany is only 12%.
Most Europeans use more than one app for shopping
Considering the scope and variety of mobile shopping options, it should not be surprising that 75% of Europeans used mobile app purchases over the past 12 months. Most of them (64%) use two to five applications, and 20% even six or more.