Mobile consumer spending to hit £53 billion over the next decade

By Erin Smith

Published: 14 April, 2015

Consumer spending through the use of smartphones and other mobile devices is forecasted to reach £53 billion a year over the next decade according to new research released by Barclays.

Consumer spending through the use of smartphones and other mobile devices is forecasted to reach £53bn a year over the next decade according to new research released by Barclays.

The research was carried out by Conlumino on behalf of Barclays.

That is a 546% increase in consumer spending via mobile devices by 2024 compared to today's figures which come in at £9.7bn.

"The size of the retail opportunity is clear for all to see. The question every retailer should be asking themselves is what they are doing about it to not only satisfy today's consumer but, also tomorrow's," said Richard Lowe, managing director and head of retail & wholesale at Barclays.

Wine and spirit retailers that have mobile-friendly website will be better equipped to capitalise on the growing channel.

By the end of 2014, it was estimated that 61% of adults owned smartphones, compared to just 14% in 2009. By 2019 almost 75% of adults are forecasted to own a smartphone.

According to the research conducted by Barclays, 70% of 221 retailers polled did not currently offer a mobile website or a mobile app for consumers.

Offering mobile-friendly websites is going to become increasingly more important within the next few weeks as Google announced in February that it's new algorithm, which rolls out next week on 21 April, 2015, will include mobile-friendly usability factors and app indices. For retailers this means that having mobile-friendly sites could help to push websites higher up on google search results pages and improve a company's search rankings.

The influence of mobile devices on spending is also expected to more than double to £112 bn by 2024. The 'influence of mobile ' means that the retail sale will involve a mobile device one way or another. According to Barclay's research, today almost £18.4 bn of consumer spending is currently influenced by mobile devices.

Within the next decade it is predicted that 42.4% of all retail sales will involve a mobile device "making mobile the fastest growing retail segment," according to the Barclays.

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