JUL 30, 2013 – Mobile buying overall on steady rise
Consumers in Australia are getting more comfortable with two converging trends—digital buying and mobile smart device usage. According to May 2013 data from research firm Frost & Sullivan, three out of 10 internet users in Australia made a retail purchase within the previous 12 months via their smartphone. And not to be left behind, another 19% made a purchase on their tablet.
eMarketer projects that more than 60% of the population in Australia will buy via digital channels this year, driving business-to-consumer (B2C) ecommerce sales up to $26.8 billion. eMarketer expects smartphones to be in the hands of 54% of the population by the end of this year, while GroupM estimates that tablets will reach 24%. It’s notable that although smartphone penetration is likely well over double tablet penetration (comparing the two forecasts), tablets show a much narrower gap in use for digital buying purposes, again pointing to tablets’ important role in the retail purchase funnel.
