Auction giant, eBay, predicts massive growth in mobile shopping over the next few years, however related research shows that potential growth is being hampered by unreliable mobile broadband availability.
eBay believes that mobile shopping could boost the UK economy by £4.5bn within four years, and by another £13bn by 2021, as consumers become more comfortable with using their handsets to buy online.
The internet giant has called on Ofcom to help improve the quality of mobile internet provision, as many customers experience patchy coverage, slow connection speeds, and unreliable connections.
Unsurprisingly, m-commerce as it has become known, is least successful in remote places such as the Scottish highlands, but it is also underperforming in some metropolitan areas due to poor mobile coverage.
Alongside the obvious reception problems experienced by mobile users, customers are also put off using mobile internet due to the cost of transferring data.
There are many benefits to embracing the inevitable move towards people and businesses using their mobiles to buy online, especially as smart phones are burst so spectacularly onto the market over the past few years. eBay itself confirmed that an impressive 16 million consumers use their iPhones to access the site.
Importance of m-commerce to small businesses
Angus McCarey, eBay UK’s Retail Director for eBay UK commented:
“High quality and reliable mobile broadband coverage throughout the UK has to be our ambition, giving consumers choice over when and how they shop, encouraging spending, thereby benefiting online and high street retail, and giving a much needed boost to the fragile economic recovery.”
Rory Stewart, an MP and mobile broadband campaigner, confirmed the importance of m-commerce to small businesses:
“Growth in Britain is going to come from small businesses and it will be driven by mobile broadband. In rural areas, our businesses depend upon online activities, e-commerce and increasingly eBay and m-commerce. This is another fantastic example of why we must take this opportunity to expand mobile broadband coverage as far as possible.”
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