According to the latest research from independent mobile ad network InMobi, mobile phones, mobile marketing, and in particular, mobile commerce are showing signs of record growth in Africa and across the Asian Pacific.
“Asia Pacific grew by 10% over the past 3 months to reach 18 billion monthly impressions,” InMobi reports in its study, “while Africa grew by 21% to reach 4.2 billion monthly impressions. This growth was largely driven by the continued growing trend towards smartphone adoption in these markets.”
The study in question – “A Global Consumer Perspective on Mobile Shopping” – involved the participation of approximately 15,000 mobile consumers across 14 nations in North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia from February through March of this year.
Based on InMobi’s findings, 59% of South African users have now purchased at least one digital product through their mobile device.
“Mobile shopping is becoming increasingly commonplace in Africa,” says James Lamberti, VP Global Research & Marketing at InMobi. “It’s an exciting time for the consumer, retailer, and manufacturer as mobile shopping solutions will become more accessible, intelligent and compelling to use. With the high level of consumer acceptance a new mass reach retail channel has emerged setting up huge opportunities in the world of mobile advertising.”
Incredibly, however, the study also showed that non-smartphone users demonstrate an even higher propensity for mobile purchases over desktop computer purchases than smartphone users do.
All told, African mobile web users prefer the mobile channel to their desktop by 46% to 10%, respectively, when shopping for apparel, consumer electronics and even movie and other forms of “entertainment tickets.”
To obtain the full report from InMobi, click here.