Almost half of online shopping is done on mobile devices

Despite online shopping brings convenience to people’s lives, there are a number of challenge retailers are faced with when it comes the changing way consumers shop.

Picodi.com analysed data over the past year to find out just how Brits are shopping online. The results revealed that mobile commerce is booming globally and it turns out British people joined the trend, with almost half (48%) of transactions made with the use of a mobile device last year.

The average order value was £43 on mobile, which is about £15 less than when using desktops (£58) and £11 more when using tablets (£32). iOS users spend more than Android users — £47 vs £41 on average.

Unsurprisingly, it’s the young generation that prefers online shopping. 37% of all online shoppers are people between the ages of 25 and 34. They’re followed by people aged 35-44 (23%) and 18-24% (14%). The remaining 26% are consumers who are over 45 years old.

According to the research, the average order value of a British shopper is the highest in January (£70), followed by December and February (£61 and £52 accordingly).

Compared to that, the average order value of a moderate £44 in November might come as a surprise. After all, that’s when Black Friday takes place. Picodi notes that even though shopper baskets are smaller during that time, Brits shop in a number of different online stores and place more orders. So, if you look at the shopping activity, it turns out November has the highest number of transactions — more than one-fourth (26.6%) of all the transactions made during the year.

The second busiest month when it comes to the number of transactions was December (21.3%), followed by October (11.4%). Christmas shoppers might have greatly contributed to such a high number in these months. The lowest number of transactions was noted in March (2.5%) with the average order value amounting to £24.

Consumers in the United Kingdom shop the most on Fridays. Mobile users’ shopping activity also increases on Monday, with British people preferring to shop in the afternoon: the peak of sales occurs at 2pm for desktops and 5pm for mobile devices.

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