eBay has revealed that sales through mobile now account for more than 10 per cent of all purchases on eBay UK. The UK continues to lead the way for mCommerce for eBay in Europe, with more people in the UK buying and selling goods via mobile on eBay than in any other European country.
On average, an item is sold via eBay UK’s mobile platforms every second. In August 2011 alone, over 2m items were bought through mobile, with almost twice as many men as women shopping on their mobile.
For the second consecutive month cars topped the list of most expensive items bought via mobile on Ebay UK in August. The most expensive item bought on eBay UKs mobile platforms in July 2011 was a Ferrari F430 Spider F1, which sold for over £70,000. Last month, the most expensive item bought was a black Bentley Continental GTC Auto, which sold for over £50,000. A house in the South of France was also in the top ten most expensive items bought in July.
An Ofcom report published last month found that over a quarter of adults and almost half of all teenagers now own a smartphone, with 59 per cent having acquired theirs in the last year. It found that the vast majority of smartphone users (81 per cent) have their mobile switched on all of the time and people confessed to using their smartphones everywhere from the dining table to the bathroom and bedroom.
Over one fifth of Brits shopping through their mobiles are aged between 26 and 30. However, eBay notes that it’s not just the smartphone generation that is taking advantage of the convenience that mCommerce offers, as more over-50s than under-20s are shopping via their mobile. 
“With consumers having instant access on-the-move, mobile shopping has come of age, and as such retailers who don’t take steps to embrace it now risk being left behind,” says Angus McCarey, retail director for eBay UK. “While it took years for internet shopping to become mainstream, we believe mobile commerce will do it in less than half the time. Indeed, if sales on our UK site are anything to go by, we have never before seen such significant year-over-year growth, currently at triple digits. It’s not just the weekly shop that people are now buying regularly through their mobiles; consumers are demonstrating how comfortable they are in purchasing much more expensive items such as supercars and holiday homes.”
The most popular categories in which people have bought via mobile devices in the UK include Fashion; DVD, Film and TV; PC and Video Gaming; Consumer Electronics and Technical Goods; Music; Sporting Goods; and Jewellery.
More than 20m people have now downloaded the iPhone eBay app across the globe, while in total eBay’s mobile apps have been downloaded more than 47m times. eBay mobile users are visiting the mobile website 10 – 15 times a day. In 2010, global eBay sales via a mobile device more than tripled, generating $2bn (£1.27bn) in revenues, up from $600m in 2009. The figure is set to pass $4bn in 2011.
