British consumers are set to spend £19.3 billion a year using their mobile phones and tablets in ten years’ time, according to new research by Barclays Corporate. That’s almost 5% of all retail sales - and almost 15 times higher than this year’s estimated mobile-based sales figure of £1.3 billion.
Food and groceries are the most popular mobile purchases, worth almost £300 million this year - and expected to exceed £5 billion by 2021. Next on the list is electrical goods, worth £290 million in mobile purchases this year - but dropping in overall popularity by 2021, when sales of £2.1 billion will leave it in fourth place. Meanwhile, mobile-based sales of baby, health and beauty products will grow from £63 million in 2011 to £3.1 billion in ten years’ time.
Richard Lowe, Head of Retail & 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 and those retailers which are prepared to invest will be at a significant advantage to the competition. The real value to be found in m-commerce is through its role as a multi-channel integrator and the indirect sales boost it generates by connecting physical stores with online”.
52% of consumers say they already use their mobile devices at one or more stages of the purchasing process, from initial research to online shopping.