One in three young adults will use their mobile phone to purchase Christmas gifts for friends and family this year.
UTalkMarketing and online survey platform Toluna Quick surveyed 1300 UK consumers and found that a staggering 32% of 18 to 34 year olds plan to use their mobile device to purchase gifts in the run up to the festive season.
But it’s not just the youth market that’s looking to buy their Christmas goodies on their mobile. Older age groups too are making an increasing number of purchases via their mobile – 14% of those aged between 35 and 54, and 9% of over 55’s also plan to make Christmas purchases this year using their device.
Apple’s iPhone users are the most likely to make a Christmas purchase via their device – 42% of those that say they will make a Christmas purchase via mobile will do using their iPhone. Some 31% of those that say they will make a Christmas purchase via their mobile will use their Blackberry and a further 27% will do so via an Android device.
But retailers will need to have a mobile app in place if they want a slice of the now lucrative mobile shopper market. An overwhelming 88% of mobile shoppers will only make a purchase this Christmas if their retailer of choice has ‘an app for that’. Only 12% of mobile shoppers will make a purchase directly from a retailer’s mobile-optimised website.
The main concern of those that won’t use their mobile device to make purchases this Christmas is the issue of privacy – 26% of those that said they would not use their mobile device to make purchases said it is because they have privacy concerns related to entering banking details into their device.