TORONTO – Mobile commerce is growing at more than double the rate of overall e-commerce in Canada, news that should prompt Canadian retailers to consider mobile as a strong sales channel, according to new research from Ipsos conducted on behalf of PayPal.
From 2013-2016, the compound annual growth rate for mobile commerce in Canada is projected at 34% versus14% for overall e-commerce, including mobile commerce. Canadian mobile commerce spend in 2013 topped $3.45 billion, a number which is predicted to grow by 142% by 2016, according to the research.
Other highlights include:
– Led by Millennials, one fifth (19%) of online shoppers surveyed report having purchased from their smartphone in the past 12 months, and 15% reported making a purchase from an Internet-enabled tablet;
– Some 17% of Canadian shoppers buy from their smartphone more than once a week, while another 10% of smartphone shoppers pull out their devices to buy once a week;
– In Canada, 55% of smartphone shoppers had shopped from a mobile app and 52% from a mobile browser. Nearly half (46%) of Canadian smartphone shoppers who have used both platforms prefer shopping on an app, while only 14% say they prefer to shop through a browser;
– Currently, product research is the most cited mobile commerce related activity among smartphone users: 25% of Canadians said they had "searched for product information on my smartphone" in the past 12 months, 20% had "used my smartphone to help locate/find information about a store or business" and 18% had "read customer or user reviews from my smartphone".
A major reason that people have not yet switched to shopping on mobile devices is because they do not see any distinct advantage in shopping on mobile devices versus shopping on their desktop or laptop computer. Security concerns were also a key reason holding Canadians back from shopping on their smartphones and tablets, the research continues.
"With low cost smartphones with larger screen sizes entering the market along with improvements to mobile device security, the entry barriers to mobile commerce will decrease," said Alexander Peh, head of mobile and market development at PayPal Canada, in the research's news release. "Those improvements combined with safer and simpler mobile checkout solutions from PayPal will make it easier and more intuitive for people to pay with their mobile phone."
