Mobile shopping to witness significant increase among European consumers – research

Findings of the research commissioned by Akamai Technologies, a US-based provider of online dynamic transactions and enterprise applications, and carried out by IDC Retail Insights, suggest that approximately 30 percent of respondents are using or plan to use mobile devices to make online purchases. Within this group, 10 percent of respondents are already using their mobile devices for retail search, price comparison or online purchasing. In addition, another 20 percent of participants plan to shop online in the future.

According to the same source, 30 percent of respondents indicated an increase in online spending during 2010, with Spain singled out as the fastest growing e-commerce market in Europe, where 44 percent of consumers reported a willingness to spend more online. The research also found that consumers who spend most online in Europe (around EUR 1,500 per year) tend to be aged between 35 to 54 years .

The research also highlights that, in 2010, 62 percent of respondents purchased clothes and footwear online, making this the largest category of spend in the survey. This was followed by more ‘traditional’ online items such as books and magazines (59 percent) and online travel spending (47 percent).