M-commerce to soar in next decade
17 October 2011 09:49
British consumers are set to spend nearly £20 billion a year buying goods "on the go" using mobile phones and tablets in the next 10 years, a study forecasts.
Barclays Corporate research forecast that m-commerce will enjoy a massive boom from £1.3 billion this year to hit £19.3 billion in 2011, in part due to a lack of new retail space.
Richard Lowe, head of retail and wholesale at Barclays Corporate, said: "M-commerce is still a relatively niche channel accounting for 0.5% of total retail spend. However, with little new shop space coming into play the real growth opportunities lie on the virtual high street."
Just more than half (52%) of consumers already use their mobiles at some stage in the shopping process and Barclays Corporate forecasts an increase on this with advances in technology such as 4G.
During the next five years mobile commerce will enjoy 55% growth, compared with 8% for online sales and 1.6% for in-store sales, while mail order is expected to shrink by 1.2%, the study, based on research from 3,000 UK consumers, found.
Total 2021 retail sales are set to be worth some £390 billion - and m-commerce will account for 4.9% of sales.
Food and groceries are currently the most popular mobile purchase, ringing up sales of nearly £300 million for supermarkets and grocery stores this year. By 2021 this figure is expected to top £5 billion.
Electricals are the second most popular mobile purchase with £290 million due to be purchased via a smart phone or tablet this year and expected to reach more modest growth to £2.1 billion by 2021.
Personal care, including hair care, beauty, dental and baby products will enjoy the strongest growth, with m-commerce sales rising from £63 million in 2011 to £3.1 billion in 10 years' time, Barclays said.
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