40% of adults and 62% of 18-24 year olds use their mobile phone to update social media
UK consumers are downloading more data on their mobiles and tablets than any other major nation, research from Ofcom has revealed.
The International Communications Market Report found that 51 per cent use a laptop most often to connect to the internet, while 37 per cent use a desktop computer, six per cent prefer smartphones and six per cent use other connected devices.
The research found that 16 per cent of all website traffic in the UK was on a mobile, tablet or other connected device, higher than any other country in Europe.
Use of social media sites and m-commerce were areas where there have been growth, with 40 per cent of UK adults and 62 per cent of 18-24 year olds using their mobile phones to visit social media sites.
Ofcom has also said that over a fifth (23.1 per cent) of UK smartphone users use their device to visit retail websites – the highest level out of the five largest European countries.
It was discovered that last year UK consumers broke the £1,000-a-year spend barrier on internet shopping, with the per-head spending on e-commerce reaching £1,083.
Adam Stewart, marketing director at Rakuten’s Play.com, commented:“Interesting to read the report from Ofcom today stating that 16 per cent of all web traffic in the UK was from mobiles, tablets or other connected devices - more than any other European country.
It’s certainly a trend that we’ve seen echoed on Rakuten’s Play.com, where we have seen nearly 120 per cent increase in traffic from mobile and tablet devices over the last 12 months. We also find that Mobile browsing surges on Monday morning from 7-8a.m. and the pattern of browsing from bed or on the early morning commute is echoed throughout the week, with the highest levels of mobile browser activity occurring between 6 – 8 a.m. Data also shows that shoppers are most likely to click through on deals via their mobile during this early morning timeframe.”