When the holiday season hits, it seems like everyone upgrades in some way, be it New Year’s resolutions, new and better savings from stores, new holiday house decor – the holidays just seem to spark a little motivation in everyone to try something new. That’s why it’s no surprise to learn from the EE, the UK’s most advanced digital communications company, in its just released “4GEE Mobile Living Index” that wider access by shoppers to 4G’s faster internet speeds is driving holiday shopping from mobile devices. With faster mobile internet speeds, frantic Christmas shoppers can be at ease; it’s said that 4GEE is set to transform holiday shopping.
Statistics reveal just how popular online shopping on mobile devices has become, as Christmas shopping on cell phones is set to nearly triple this year in the UK, and 39% (an enormous increase from last year’s 15%) of 4GEE customers claim that they’ll be using their smartphone/tablet to get their holiday shopping done.
Not surprisingly, people tend to Christmas shop on their mobile devices during their daily commute to and from work – it’s been found that the busiest times for mobile shopping are 8:30am and 5:30pm (who doesn’t need a little retail therapy to mentally prepare for a day of work, or unwind after a day of it?). Numbers also reveal the steadily increasing spending on mobile: over one third of UK men who shop on mobile say that they spent over £100 in the last month alone and one fifth spent over £200. Women topped that, almost doubling the figure from July’s report, with 15% of them spending over £200 in the last month.
Pippa Dunn, Chief Consumer Marketing Officer at EE, said “people are now buying their Christmas gifts on the move…following their favorite team…and doing online banking on their daily commute, while listening to music and searching the web. 4G is enabling people to shop, share and browse with a new level of flexibility and freedom.”
Further statistics from EE’s 4G mobile network exposes how social media and music streaming are growing rapidly versus 3G. One remarkable statistic is that one in four people use social media at least ten times per day, with more than one third streaming more video than they did on 3G. Network analysis reveals that 4GEE customers use 28% more data on social media than 3G users, with Facebook, YouTube and Instagram taking up most of the 4GEE data. 4G has also benefitted Music streaming apps, with Deezer and Spotify appearing in the top 20 most popular applications on 4G. Furthermore, 18% of 4GEE customers claim to have never used a home phone, as reliance on mobile devices has taken over so quickly. The demographic seems to be expanding as well, with nearly one third of 4GEE users being over the age of 45. Times are changing and so are our mobile devices, and with impressive statistics like these, who knows what kind of advancements in holiday shopping, let alone mobile shopping, we’ll see just a couple years down the road.
By Cassie Steele