It is the younger generations that are starting to send the trend upward within that European country.
According to the latest data, mobile commerce is staking off among the younger population in Spain, but at the same time, reports are showing that this demographic has also included themselves among the people who habitually “showroom”.
Showrooming has brick and mortar stores worried about whether or not they can remain competitive.
The behavior called showrooming occurs when a consumer heads to a brick and mortar store in order to have a look at a given product, and then uses mobile commerce to compare prices with other stores, often purchasing on rival websites that can offer a lower price. This can occur while standing right in front of an item in a shop where the consumer has no intention of making a purchase.
According to the latest mobile commerce data, Spain is still well behind the trends for shopping over this channel.
The report released by OBS Online Business School in Barcelona, called Mobile Commerce 2013, revealed that only 6 percent of consumers in Spain make purchases using their smartphones or tablets. This is much lower than other countries, as the figure in the United States is 30 percent and the statistic from the United Kingdom is 26 percent. However, the report also indicated that this number is on the rise, as 2.3 million people shop over this channel at least one time every week.
As a whole about 70 percent of smartphone and tablet users had researched products on their phones, so even if they weren’t actually using mobile commerce for making a purchase, it was still a part of the overall shopping process to a large degree. Only about 15 percent of those who researched the products actually purchased the item over that channel. Around 24 percent went on to use a PC to buy the item they found on the smaller screen.
The study also revealed that the consumers within the 18 to 34 age group were those who were the most likely to abandon a purchase while they were in a brick and mortar store, only to purchase it online or over mobile commerce at a later time. Among them 3 percent would shop online later on, while 10.9 percent would buy it using a PC.
