Smartphone users spend £200 per year shopping on their phones

A study has revealed that smartphone users spent an average of £199 on their phones during 2013, with 40% of smartphone owners using their phones to make purchases.

The survey was conducted by marketing agency Cheil Worldwide and they surveyed 1,000 British smartphone owners, finding that average spend on smartphones had risen by 63% in the last five years.

Over half of the people surveyed said that they used their phones in store, with a further half saying that they compared prices online, took photos of products or researched product information. One-sixth of people also used their device to check for better prices on competitors’ website.

President of shopper marketing and retail experience at Cheil, Simon Hathaway said: “The smartphone has become a key element of how we shop, and all evidence points to it having been a bumper post-Christmas sales period for mobile commerce.”

He added that the amount we spend on buying items on our phone is set to rise even more as it becomes easier to buy things online. The survey revealed that half of smartphone users bought their phone with the sole intention of using it for the purposes of shopping.

Hathaway also said that the high street is changing as we’re becoming “smart phone focused shoppers” and that consumers now have an expectation that the retail experience should be everywhere, instant and personal.