More common mobile content activities do not get as much traction in Germany as in other EU-5 countries
Consumers in Germany are highly disposed to online retail. In the largest economy in Europe, more than nine in 10 internet users will shop online this year, eMarketer predicts, and nearly eight in 10 will make a purchase—higher proportions than in the US. Now, consumers are transitioning that affinity onto their mobile devices.
According to comScore mobiLens, mobile retail was the fastest growing mobile activity in Germany, averaging a rise of 92% in the three months leading up to July, compared to the same period in 2011.
Earlier research from comScore mobiLens confirmed the proclivity in Germany for mobile retail. In May, Germany posted the second-greatest growth in retail site visits via smartphones in the EU-5, at 118%, and the second-highest percentage of smartphone users visiting mobile retail sites, just half a percentage point below the UK.
The enthusiasm in Germany for mobile retail is unique given users’ restrained uptake of more common mobile activities. Mobile users have shown comparative disinterest in more typical content categories such as social networking and using a browser.
A low penetration of smartphones may be artificially depressing some of these activities, however. Despite Germany’s digital maturity, it has been a mobile internet laggard, ranking last among the EU-5 for both mobile internet and smartphone penetration. But now consumers in the country are converting to smartphones at the fastest rate in the region.
With a predisposition for online retail, a smartphone user base that is growing fast, and a proven interest in the mobile retail category, shoppers—and maybe even buyers—in Germany will be increasingly looking to their phones and tablets to online browse and purchase.
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