A survey from TNS ComTech shows that consumers in Western Europe are increasingly inclined to buy online, with most online business going via Amazon and eBay. The survey, which contacted around 60,000 mobile phone users in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, revealed that one in 16 handsets had been sold on eBay or Amazon. Internet sales in Italy and Spain were lower than average, which means over 25% of mobile purchases in France, Germany and the UK were online.
Connected prepay phones were particularly popular online, with most purchasers aged 35 to 49 – which could suggest many of these phones were being bought for family members or as gifts. [Sources: Telecoms.com; BusinessWeek.com]