Smartphone represents half of all mcommerce sales in UK

For the first time in the United Kingdom, ecommerce purchases made via smartphone will overtake that of tablets. This year, online sales that happened via smartphones represent 49.7 percent of all mcommerce sales. Mcommerce via smartphones will be worth about 20 billion euros in the UK this year.

This is predicted by eMarketer in its latest retail ecommerce forecast. Purchases made using the smartphone represent a 49.7 percent share of all mcommerce sales in the UK, so technically that’s not more than half of all mcommerce sales. But, thanks to online sales happening from old school feature phones, the smartphone is indeed more popular than the tablet: this device now accounts for 49.4 percent of mobile sales in the UK.

According to eMarketer, online purchases made via smartphones will represent even 56 percent of mcommerce sales by 2021. This increase is of course at the cost of less sales happening through tablets. Tablet penetration in the UK has been one of the highest in Europe, but growth has leveled off in the past couple years.

By 2021, ecommerce accounts for quarter of all retail sales in UK

Overall ecommerce sales in the UK are expected to reach almost 95 billion euros this year, which would mean it accounts for over 19 percent of total retail sales. The market research company thinks that over a quarter (25.8 percent) of all retail sales in the UK will be digital by 2021. “To put that into context, the proportion in the US will be less than half of the UK total this year, at just 9.0%”, said Bill Fisher, senior analyst at eMarketer. “Indeed, outside of China, the UK is the world’s most advanced retail ecommerce market in terms of proportional sales. And despite – or perhaps because of – the current economic uncertainty in the UK, ecommerce sales continue to post strong growth.”