A new, wide-ranging survey reports that the East is leading the West when it comes to m-commerce adoption.
The independent survey, ‘shared’ by Rakuten, one of the world’s largest e-commerce marketplaces, reports that mobile shoppers in Indonesia and Thailand are nearly twice as likely as their Western counterparts to shop via their mobile device.
Apparently 15% of Indonesians and 13% of Thais are happy to shop from their handsets, compared to just 8% of Americans and 8% from the UK.
Interestingly, even thought tablet use in Europe is up 142% year on year in the first half of 2012, Thais came out top for m-commerce tablet adoption. More than 35% use their tablets for shopping compared to closest European rival Italy at 18% and the UK at 14%.
“There is still a gap between browsing and buying that we need to bridge. We need to build consumer confidence in mobile shopping platforms, by refining the shopping experience online, offering more mobile tailored offers to incentivise purchase and ensure mobile payments are secure, smooth and hassle free”, bleated, sorry, said Adam Stewart, Marketing Director at Rakuten’s Play.com
* The survey was conducted with 1,000 (adult) respondents per country in July 2012. who had bought something online over the past year in 12 countries: Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, UK and the US.
Monty Munford has more than 15 years' experience in mobile, digital media, web and journalism. He is the founder of Mob76, a company that helps tech companies raise money and exit. He speaks regularly at global media events with a focus on Africa, writes a weekly column for The Telegraph, is a regular contributor to The Economist, Wired, Mashable and speaks regularly on the BBC World Service.
