By Lucinda Southern

One in three young adults will use their mobile phone to purchase Christmas gifts for friends and family this year. UTalkMarketing, a global hub for marketing knowledge, teamed up with online survey platform Toluna to survey 1300 UK consumers and found that a staggering 32% of 18 to 34 year olds plan to use their mobile device to purchase gifts in the run up to the festive season.

The result is a strong indication that an increasing number of young shoppers are using their mobile device to make purchases. Older age groups too are making an increasing number of purchases via their mobile - 14% of those aged between 35 and 54, and 9% of over 55’s also plan to make Christmas purchases this year using their device.

Apple’s iPhone users are the most likely to make a Christmas purchase via their device – 42% of those that say they will make a Christmas purchase via mobile will do using their iPhone. Some 31% of those that say they will make a Christmas purchase via their mobile will use their Blackberry and a further 27% will do so via an Android device.

But retailers will need to have a mobile app in place if they want a slice of the now lucrative mobile shopper market. An overwhelming 88% of mobile shoppers will only make a purchase this Christmas if their retailer of choice has ‘an app for that’. Only 12% of mobile shoppers will make a purchase directly from a retailer’s mobile-optimised website.

“The results of this survey are a clear indication that retailers cannot ignore the mobile-commerce wave. They need to adapt to and embrace the changing ways consumers now shop”, says Melanie McKinney, UTalkMarketing’s publisher.

“The fact that a third of young adults are planning to buy their Christmas gifts via their mobile device is proof that the year of mobile-commerce is finally upon us. The fact that most mobile shoppers will do so directly via a retailer’s app is also strong proof that brands wishing to contend in the mobile-commerce arena must do more than simply provide a mobile optimised website”.

The main concern of those that won’t use their mobile device to make purchases this Christmas is the issue of privacy – 26% of those that said they would not use their mobile device to make purchases said it is because they have privacy concerns related to entering banking details into their device.

“This is clearly an issue that consumers are concerned about, and these findings highlight a need for mobile retailers to reassure people that shopping via their device is secure and make sure it actually is!” says McKinney.

UTalkMarketing’s findings fit the suggestion that an increasing number of consumers are shunning crowded high streets to shop via online at Christmas – a YouGov survey released recently suggests that 84% of consumers will buy at least one gift online this year with a third saying they will buy all of their gifts online.

About the author

Lucinda Southern is Junior Report for UTalkMarketing, a company which aims to give marketers the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in a demanding digital world. Its website is visited by over 140,000 marketers a month; and its events are attended by some of the biggest brands and agencies with speakers from the global leaders including Google, Facebook and Microsoft. The company has trained over 10,000 people, from over 60 companies, across 30 countries in the last two years.

http://www.utalkmarketing.com/