Mobile shopping trends study shows airline reservations are up

Mobile Shopping trends

Mobile Shopping trends

Six percent of consumers have used a smartphone or tablet to buy a plane ticket.

The results of a new study by WorldPay have now been released, revealing interesting mobile shopping trends among travelers who are purchasing tickets and making reservations.

It indicated that there is a growing interest in using smartphones to make their bookings.

While it did suggest that only 6 percent of consumers have reserved their seat on a plane using a smartphone or tablet over the previous 12 months, it also showed that 58 percent of travelers have interest in doing so in future trips.

The “Perfect Passenger Payment” report was commissioned by WorldPay to look into the willingness of consumers to make higher cost purchases – such as travel tickets – while using their tablets and smartphones. This mobile shopping trends research included data from nine countries from which there were 4,500 consumers who participated. The countries included Brazil, Britain, China, Japan, the United States, and others.

The study looked into the data from 51 different airline merchants.

According to the WorldPay chief product officer, Philip McGriskin, in San Francisco, “One of the stand-out findings of the study is that mobile payment presents a new revenue opportunity for airlines.” He also indicated that “In developing economies, mobile is already establishing itself as a primary channel for purchasing goods and services ahead of more mature ecommerce markets like the U.S. and Britain.”

Equally, though, he noted that in order to take advantage of these markets’ opportunities, during which time more established economies develop a higher level of comfort with these devices, it will become increasingly important for plane ticket sellers to integrate this channel into their efforts and to allow consumers to use their favorite devices to make their ticket purchases, as well as to improve the entire experience throughout the airport and the flight.

Among the respondents of the WorldPay mobile shopping trends study, 39 percent said that they would be comfortable making this kind of purchase through the use of a smartphone. Furthermore, half of the survey participants said that they would make their purchase using their smartphones if it was to be made available. This illustrates that there is a gap between what is being offered to consumers and what they actually expect. According to WorldPay, only about 10 percent of airlines are offering this option.

 

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