Study: UK leads Europe in mobile shopping

A recent study from Kelkoo and the Centre for Retail Research found consumers in the U.K. shop the most from mobile devices compared to any other European country, followed by Germany and France. Currently, nearly half of all British shoppers use their smartphones and tablets to surf the net and make purchases, up from almost zero in 2005.

Because so many shoppers are using mobile devices, the study predicted £4.5 billion will be spent from phones and tablets in 2012, a 584 percent increase from 2010 and up from the just under £3 billion spent in 2011. Retailers are recognising the growing trend in consumer behaviour and developing mobile apps to allow price comparisons, product browsing and purchasing from mobile devices.

The study showed U.K. consumers are also using their mobile devices for a higher proportion of online sales. This year 7.9 percent of all online transactions in the U.K. are expected to be made from a mobile device.

“Given the widespread and growing usage of mobile websites, it is no longer acceptable for a retailer to have a substandard mobile site no matter how good their traditional site is," said Larry Freed, CEO of ForeSee. "If shoppers aren’t having a good mobile experience with a given retailer, they will simply go elsewhere.”