Tag: united kingdom

New report highlights the performance of mobile shopping in European countries

Mobile commerce is experiencing a promising period of success in Europe, according to a new report from yStats. The report shows that countries in Western Europe boast of high degrees of smartphone and tablet penetration, which is creating a favorable environment for mobile payments to thrive within. Mobile devices have become part of people’s lives in these countries and many are becoming more comfortable with the notion of mobile shopping. The report notes that Sweden and the United Kingdom are among the countries that have the highest mobile shopper penetration in the world.

Germany and Austria are seeing a great deal of mobile shopping activity

In Central Europe, Germany is currently considered the leader when it comes to mobile penetration. High degrees of smartphone and tablet ownership have lead to an increase in mobile commerce sales throughout the country. Mobile sales accounted for more than 10% of all online retail sales in 2013. Austria is experiencing similar success, with nearly one third of its online shoppers making a purchase from a mobile device.

UK currently leads the way when it comes to mobile commerce sales

The UK currently leads other Western European countries in terms of mobile retail activity and e-commerce sales. Sales from tablets are growing significantly faster than sales from smartphones in the United Kingdom. Tablets are becoming favorable because of their larger screens and somewhat higher processing power. These devices provide a more enjoyable shopping experience for some consumers, which is why they are beginning to see more mobile commerce activity than smartphones.

Europe may establish itself as a favorable market for mobile payments and shopping in the near future

Europe may soon become the premiere battleground for the mobile commerce industry. Currently, the Asian-Pacific is considered one of the most active and attractive markets when it comes to mobile payments and retail, but European brands are beginning to become more mobile-centric. As consumers become more comfortable with the idea of mobile shopping and payments, Europe is likely to continue finding success in the mobile commerce field.

A new UK consumer survey reveals that most British mobile users are not concerned about security.

The survey from internet security company, ZenMate, carried out by OnePoll, found that many UK smartphone users are rather apathetic when it comes to mobile security, which may come as a surprise to some, considering one would think that the average mobile user would find it important to protect personal and sensitive data on their device, especially with the number of cyber attacks on the rise.

Less than half of the survey respondents said they protect their phone’s browsing data or connections.

The survey, which had 2,000 participants from the United Kingdom, also discovered that over 45% of those who participated admitted that they do not even implement basic security measures for their devices, such as using a passcode lock. In other words, if their smartphone was lost or stolen, the thief or whoever finds their phone would be able to gain instant access to their apps and other information.

Furthermore, only 41.5% of participants said they take precautionary measures when using their mobile phone for online browsing and when using public networks that are unsecured. To further back up this finding, a recent report by Ofcom revealed that, on average, people do not typically think twice about security when accessing public Wi-Fi.

According to University of Warwick Professor Harjinder Lallie, setting up rouge access points is fairly simple. He added that “Because this is so easy to do, it’s a major problem is that most people don’t make the most basic checks about the access point they are connecting to –such as ‘is this a secure connection?’ and ‘does it belong to whom it claims to belong to?’”

Only 35% of participants said mobile security is their top concern when browsing online.

Of the survey respondents that made up the 18-24 age group, while 35% said privacy was their major concern when surfing the web via their smartphone, 44.6% said that speed is more important to them than privacy. Moreover, 77% said they regularly use unsecured public W-Fi.

The co-founder of ZenMate, Simon Specka, said that with so many people using public Wi-Fi, it means that more consumers are increasing their risk of opening themselves up to cyber criminals, and most of them are completely unaware of it. He added that if consumers want to access unsecured networks via their mobile device it is prudent to have mobile security protection.