Adoption of mobile commerce in Europe remains low, according to new research from Forrester Research, based on a survey of more than 14,000 European online adults.
The report reveals that buying products from a mobile phone hasn’t taken off, as a mere 2 per cent of respondents said they had bought products from their mobile phone, and only 5 per cent are interested in doing so. Only 16 per cent of online buyers have used their mobile phone for a shopping-related activity, such as researching products, checking on the status of an order, or locating a nearby store to buy a specific product.
Other findings include: 
- Browsing for products and services is the most popular commerce-related activity on a mobile, but only 7 per cent of online buyers do so
- Italian and Swedish online buyers have warmed up the most to mobile commerce, followed by the UK. Those in France and Germany show the least interest
- Mobile-savvy users are more likely to engage in mobile commerce. For example, 23 per cent of online European iPhone users research products on their mobile phone at least monthly
Despite the low penetration rate, analyst Thomas Husson believes that mobile presents a growing market opportunity. “Smartphone adoption in Europe is growing fast, which makes traffic to websites through mobile devices easier,” says Husson. “European consumers are starting to show interest in mobile commerce activities, and many retailers across Europe, like La Redoute, Fnac, eBay, Amazon.com, Tesco, and Carrefour, are starting to improve their mobile web sites and creating mobile applications for the iPhone.”
