M-commerce offers consumers instant access to eBay’s global marketplace whilst on-the-move, with shoppers snapping up everything from houses to cars through eBay’s apps:
- The UK has been the fastest adopter of mcommerce , with more Brits shopping through the eBay app than anywhere else in Europe
- An item purchased on average every two seconds through the eBay buyer app in the UK
- 13 pieces of clothing, pairs of shoes and accessories are sold every minute through eBay’s mobile apps worldwide
- 94 bids made every minute via eBay’s mobile apps worldwide
To enable shoppers to quickly and easily find the best prices online, eBay acquired RedLaser, the leading paid for barcode scanning app which lets users scan and upload product information and compare prices. Shoppers have been taking advantage of the technology, with downloads of eBay’s RedLaser iPhone app now at seven million – up by over 300% since eBay’s acquisition in June 2010.
Clare Gilmartin, Vice-President of eBay Europe said: “It’s staggering to think that $2billion worth of sales has been generated through a platform that didn’t exist a couple of years ago, and on a device that didn’t exist three years ago. We’re defining the mobile commerce landscape, by offering convenience for consumers. We’ve made it easier for people to shop when they want, how they want and where they want. With the number of mobile internet users growing rapidly, the potential for growth is huge.”
Germany and the UK combined generated nearly one-third of all eBay’s mobile sales in 2010, despite the UK’s relative size as a market. Alongside Australia, the UK is the fastest growing international mobile market.
The most popular items people have bought via mobile devices in the UK include:
- Fashion
- Consumer electronics and technical goods
- Sporting Goods
- PC and Video Gaming
- Home & Garden
- Collectibles
Users of Apple’s iPhone continue to lead the way in mobile shopping on eBay. Since its initial release in 2008, more than 15 million people downloaded eBay’s iPhone app, which is
consistently ranked among the top three most popular apps in the iPhone lifestyle category.
Founded in 1999, eBay.co.uk is the UK’s number 1 e-commerce site, providing a platform for over 17.7m unique visitors per month to buy and sell new, unique and used items in a fun and easy way. Sellers of all sizes, including 160,000 registered small businesses and over 30 high-street retailers use eBay.co.uk to reach the UK’s largest online shopping audience.