Mobile Commerce Surges in Netherlands (April 30, 2013)
Mobile commerce in the Netherlands reached EUR560 million (US$748 million) in 2012, or 6 percent of all online spending volume during the year, according to a report from industry group Thuiswinkel. The number of Dutch consumers who made a purchase via mobile device during the second half of 2012 was 1.7 million, up a whopping 73 percent from the second half of 2011. Of those mobile buyers, 1.4 million purchased physical products or services, with the remainder having purchased digital downloads or apps. The most common goods bought with smartphones or tablets were clothing (34 percent), followed by books (24 percent) and sporting goods (20 percent).
The report found that consumers typically use mobile devices to make smaller purchases than computer-based online buys. The average cost of a purchase via mobile was EUR56 (US$73), compared to an average of EUR112 for online purchases (US$147), according to the study, which cited habit and confidence as the main reasons consumers were more comfortable buying bigger-ticket items on a computer.
Interestingly, the report found that despite the portability of smartphones and tablets, the vast majority of mobile consumers make purchases while at home; 92 percent of those who made their most recent mobile purchase via tablet did so while at home, while two-thirds of smartphone-using buyers bought from home. The split between tablets and smartphones, meanwhile, was essentially even, with 51 percent of mobile shoppers having used a tablet to make their most recent mobile purchase.
The robust growth of mobile shopping is expected to continue through 2013, according to the report. Two-thirds of mobile consumers said they expected to make purchases via mobile device more often during the first half of this year, and by the end of the year, Thuiswinkel projects mobile purchases to reach EUR1 billion (US$1.3 billion), comprising 10 percent of the entire Dutch online commerce market.
