46 per cent of mums in the UK have made a purchase on their smartphone, a 70 per cent increase from July 2011 to May 2012. In the US, that number is 38 per cent and in China, 27 per cent.
72 per cent of UK mums own their own smartphone, more than anywhere else in the world, and more than average among the British public. This is compared to 68 per cent of mums in Australia, 65 per cent in the US, and 58 per cent in Canada and China.
BabyCentre surveyed 8,300 mums across six languages in 10 markets for the Global Media Mum 2012 report and it revealed that tech-savvy British mums lead the way when it comes to mobile shopping and search.
86 per cent have used their smartphone or tablet to search in the past 30 days. 75 per cent said that they use search engines on their smartphone as often as on their computer. Chinese mums came in second at 36 per cent, with the US at 31 per cent.
In store research
40 per cent of UK mums have used a shopping app. 26 per cent looked up prices while shopping in store, 16 per cent have scanned a QR code and 10 per cent have scanned a product for price comparison.
56 per cent said they were more likely to notice ads with a voucher or offer now they had started a family and 65 per cent said the now want marketing messages that resonate more with their new lifestyle. 
“Typically with technological trends we will see patterns emerging in the UK that we’ve seen before in the US,” said Mike Fogarty, SVP global publisher of BabyCentre. “However, the increased reliance on smartphones as mum’s ‘do-it-all device’ is very much a UK-led trend.
“When it comes to gadgets, British mums know their stuff and their ‘need’ to feel connected more than we see in other markets means that they’re embracing mobile technology at a faster rate than anywhere else in the world.”
Connected TV – the device of 2013?
UK mums lag behind those in US and Canada when it comes to tablet and internet TV device ownership. Only 12 per cent have a smart TV. But Mike said he expects to see UK mums catch up and even overtake their North American counterparts: “With the UK launch of internet TV devices like YouView and Humax we’re going to see this technology really take off amongst British mums in 2013.”
The research was conducted through Babycentre’s Australian, Brazilian, Canadian, Chinese, German, Indian, Russian, UK, US and US Hispanic websites.
BabyCentre reaches 32m monthly users in 22 markets worldwide, 2.6m in the UK alone. The company says it has the only global pregnancy app, available in 16 markets and eight languages, with more than 4.8m downloads to date.
