Report: Why Shoppers Aren't Buying On Smartphones

Screen size and security concerns have been highlighted as two of the main barriers to the growth in mobile commerce.

The issues mean that while consumers are increasingly using mobile for research the main purchase is being made on a desktop, laptop or tablet.

According to UK research firm Econsultancy, studies suggest that mobile traffic and search volumes are likely to overtake desktop in the next 12 months. However, 64 per cent of smartphone owners who don't use mobile commerce say they simply prefer shopping online using PCs or tablets.

The next biggest concern was the size of the screen, cited by 41 per cent of respondents, followed by 39 per cent with security concerns.


That was followed by the difficulty filling in forms, ie with name, address and other details (29 per cent), those that said mobiles are too slow for shopping (13 per cent) and those that believed mobile sites don't have such an extensive range as main web sites (6 per cent).

The study, from a Toluna poll of 1,000 UK consumers, forms part of Econsultancy's latest report.

The report also indicated that 57 per cent of smartphone owners have used their device to search for information while out shopping - either comparing prices with other retailers (63 per cent), looking for discount vouchers online (42 per cent)or looking for product information or other product options on another retailer's web site.

Of those using mobile commerce, 49 per cent had bought something on their device in the past six months and more than half (54 per cent) spent less than £50 in total.

Popular categories for shopping on mobiles were books (43 per cent), clothes (42 per cent), music (40 per cent), DVDs (35 per cent), electricals (26 per cent), food (24 per cent), cosmetics (20 per cent), travel - flights and train tickets (18 per cent), furniture (7 per cent).