An extra £1.1bn is being spent every year by UK consumers on impulse purchases made on mobile devices.

According to a survey conducted by Rackspace, 48 per cent of UK smartphone and tablet shoppers admit to impulse buying more frequently now – with people spending on average £329 extra every year. This is estimated to total an extra £1bn of spending.

62 per cent turn to smartphones and tablets when at home, with the time between 7pm and midnight when most of these purchases are made. 18 per cent admitted to buying on the spur-of-the-moment during their lunch break.

62 per cent of 18-34 year-olds were found to buy things on-the-spot on connected devices, compared to 32 per cent of people aged 55 and older. 32 per cent said that the main incentive to make impulse purchases was to use money-saving promotional codes.

84 per cent prefer laptop or PC

But, of the 2,000 adults surveyed, 60 per cent said that they did not go mobile shopping at all – with 27 per cent raising security concerns and 84 per cent simply preferring to use laptops and PCs.

iPhone users were found to be the UK’s biggest mobile shoppers – with 69 per cent shopping on their device.37 per cent of Android users, 32 per cent on Windows Phone and 33 per cent of Blackberry owners said they shop on mobile.

Clothes are the most popular impulse buy, 41 per cent of mobile shoppers, followed by books at 35 per cent and music at 32 per cent. Women are most likely to buy clothes, at 47 per cent, while men are most likely to buy music, at 38 per cent.
“We’re a nation of bargain hunters, so tablets and smartphones make it easier than ever for consumers to keep their eyes open for great deals and snap things up wherever they are,” said Fabio Torlini, VP of Cloud at Rackspace.

“But the retail trade still has work to do in order to convince the majority of the British public that using mobile devices to shop online is a safe, preferable and attractive alternative to logging on from their PC or visiting a store.”