Mobile shopping to hit 19.8 billion pounds this Christmas

With less than ten days to go to Christmas, shoppers are taking to their mobile devices to make their purchases, with experts VoucherCodes.co.uk projecting 19.8 billion pounds in sales.

In its latest report mCommerce spending figures, which are sales across digital devices, looking specifically at the Christmas period, are forecast to be 6.3bn pounds up from pre-pandemic figures with smartphones and tablets taking 61.3 percent of all online Christmas sales.

Shoppers are forecast to spend 19.8bn pounds using their smartphones and tablets over the festive season, up 47 percent on 2019 which is the first comparative year, according to new data.

Many retailers now invested in their mobile shopping experience, creating sites that are optimised for a mobile device and offering easy payment methods for online shopping such as PayPal and mobile wallets.

When compared to last year, mCommerce purchases dip 10.4 percent from the 22.1bn pounds spent in 2020 - the closure of non-essential retailers meant shoppers had to do most of their Christmas spending online which in turn translated to a massive rise in spending on mobile devices.

Maureen McDonagh, Managing Director at VoucherCodes.co.uk, commented: “As many consumers get back to Christmas shopping on their local high-street or shopping centre, it is great that total mCommerce sales are expected to dramatically outperform the pre-pandemic levels of 2019. Online shopping habits have definitely changed for good and, with many retailers having invested heavily in giving consumers a great mobile shopping experience, this trend is likely to continue.

“This 46.5 percent increase in spending from 2019 to 2021 suggests people are becoming accustomed to spending on their tablet or smartphone. Consumers have adapted to shopping online from the comfort of their homes during the pandemic – and with the new Omicron Covid-19 variant it’s likely hesitation around fully returning to shops will continue throughout the winter months.”