New research from price comparison site uSwitch.com reveals that the use of mobile devices to go shopping in the UK is growing rapidly.

They got market research firm Opinium to chat to 2,000 adult Brits about their mobile commerce habits and intentions. The survey concluded that we will blow £25 billion buying stuff with our phones and tablets this year, up from £15 billion last year. Furthermore they reckon 30 million of us will use our phone to shop this year, which will represent a 66% annual increase.

“With smartphone and tablet shopping now a £25 billion industry, it’s hardly surprising that  major retailers have long adopted a mobile-first approach to their websites and have even introduced their own apps to make the user experience as easy as possible,” said Ru Bhikha. “Cleaner user journeys and the ease of one-click purchasing will only add to the number of people shopping on their phones and tablets.”

The main appeal, unsurprisingly, is simple convenience, with the ability to shop at any time coming in a close second. Other prominent reasons given for shopping over your phone seem to apply to all e-commerce, including the ability to compare prices, greater choice and better prices.

The survey also asked questions about e-commerce habits in general. As you can see in the table below Amazon and eBay have a clear lead over the online manifestations of bricks-and-mortar retailers, although the latter seem to be doing a decent job of trying to keep up. Somewhat surprisingly clothes are by far the most bought type of product online, followed by books, groceries and cinema/theatre tickets. The living room is by far the most popular location for blowing all this cash.

Source: uSwitch.com