Mobile commerce in Russia parallels that of Western Europe

The results of a PayPal study are suggesting that people are smartphone shopping trends are quite similar.

PayPal, the online payments giant, has released the results of a recent study on mobile commerce, which showed that the use of smartphones and tablets for shopping in Russia is almost popular as this trend in Europe.

The results of the study were put out in a PayPal press release which compared the mobile shopping trends.

According to the head of PayPal Russia, Vladimir Malyugin, “Russian internet users are no different from other consumers in the major e-commerce markets, and they are increasingly using [mobile devices] to purchase goods and make payments — it’s faster and more convenient.” The survey was conducted in conjunction with Ipsos, a market research service. It looked into the behaviors of 17,500 consumers throughout 22 different countries, in terms of their shopping behaviors. Among those respondents were 793 people who resided in Russia, as of October of last year.

The research found that mobile commerce was used by Russians for an average of 2.6 purchses per month.

In Western Europe, the average number of purchases per month was quite similar, at three. When it came to sales completed specifically by way of tablets, Western Europe was only just slightly ahead of Russia, at 2.4 sales per month, compared to 2.38 sales per month, respectively, said the report.

Furthermore, the users of mobile devices in Russia were willing to purchase a broader range of different types of product and service when using those gadgets. Among smartphone owners, 25 percent said that they would be willing to purchase something within a brick and mortar store through the use of their device. Another 22 percent said that they would be willing to make reservations, or that they would order a meal ahead of their arrival, through their smartphone.

As a part of the mobile commerce trend as a whole, using smartphones to complete payments transactions was also appealing to many Russians. In 2010, mobile payments represented only 1 percent of the full e-commerce market in the country, whereas last year, that figure had made it to 20 percent, said the report.