Snapchat and Instagram users drive rise of purchases on mobile, says report

Millennials and regular social media users are driving growth in mobile purchases, according to a survey by ICM for Criteo.

Overall, 5% of the UK population buy products on their mobile daily, as do 10% of 18-34 year olds and 19% of daily Snapchat users and 15% of daily Instagram users.

The majority of Snapchat users (64%) have made a retail purchases on mobile, while 56% of Instagram users have made mobile purchases and 35% of Facebook users.

Fashion leads purchases

Fashion is driving mobile purchases in the UK as 23% of respondents said they had used their mobile to buy an item of clothing, followed by 16% who had bought music or film items on their mobile, and 14% who had made health and beauty purchases using their smartphone device.

Shoppers appear increasingly susceptible to using their mobile to buy products in their leisure time rather than on the move: 33% of shoppers buy on their mobile while in front of the TV, while 27% buy while in bed.

Mobile shopping a daily routine

Criteo vice president of mobile products Jason Morse said: “We can now see that shopping on mobile is becoming a daily routine for large sections of the population, suggesting that smartphones are creating greater emotional ties behind consumer and brand.

“In addition, these findings show that browsing Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest in front of the TV at night is driving the growth of mobile commerce, just as much as mobile’s innate portability.”