UK mums lead the world when it comes to smartphone usage
27 November 2012 – The Global Media Mum 2012 Report released today by BabyCentre, the world’s number one pregnancy and parenting brand, shows that UK mums are leading the world when it comes to smartphone and laptop ownership and usage.For more information on the 2012 Global Media Mum report please visit www.babycentresolutions.co.uk.
In the UK, nine out of 10 mums (86%) either own or regularly use a laptop and nearly three quarters of mums (72%) have their own smartphone, figures that are higher than anywhere else in the world. In the US, Canada, China and Australia approximately eight out of 10 mums own, or regularly use a laptop and smartphone ownership is also significantly lower elsewhere in comparison to the UK market (65% in the US, 58% in Canada and China and 68% in Australia).
8,300 mums
The research, conducted with over 8,300 mums across 10 international markets and spanning six languages revealed that tech-savvy British mums are also leading the way when it comes to mobile search and shopping. Amongst device owners, more UK mums said that they have purchased something (nearly half), or used a shopping app on their smartphone or tablet (a third) than in any other market. When using mobile as her shopping sidekick, UK mums are also more likely to have scanned a QR code while out shopping or used a barcode scanning app to run price comparisons.
And when it comes to mobile search, nearly nine out of 10 mums (86%) said that they had used their smartphone or tablet to search in the past 30 days. Furthermore, three-quarters of mums also said that they use search engines on their smartphones as often as on their computer, a figure no other market comes close to (China comes next at 36% with the US just behind that at 31%).
Mike Fogarty, SVP Global Publisher of BabyCentre comments:
“Typically with technological trends we will see patterns emerging in the UK that we’ve seen before in the US. However, the increased reliance on smartphones as mum’s ‘do-it-all device’ is very much a UK-led trend. When it comes to gadgets, British mums know their stuff and their ‘need’ to feel connected (more so than we see in other markets) means that they’re embracing mobile technology at a faster rate than anywhere else in the world.”
Currently, UK mums only lag behind US and Canadian mums when it comes to tablet and internet TV device ownership. But Mike expects to see UK mums catching up and overtaking their North American counterparts over the next 12 months:
“With the UK launch of internet TV devices like YouView and Humax we’re going to see this technology really take off amongst British mums in 2013. The flexibility offered by internet TV portals perfectly fits mum’s lifestyle allowing her to fit her favourite shows around parenting. It’s an area digital marketers wanting to reach mum need to monitor closely over the next few months.”
The Global Media Mum report which is the latest instalment of BabyCentre’s 21st Century Mum Insights series revealed that higher smartphone ownership rates in the UK are being driven by ‘always-on’ mums feeling more concerned about being connected while they’re out and about and wanting to keep in close contact with friends, family and work. In the UK, nearly half of mums (45%) described a ‘need’ to feel connected, compared to less than a third of mums in other markets.
Over 8,300 mums across 10 markets and six languages we polled for BabyCentre’s Global Media Mum report. The Report was developed through a mix of in-depth surveying, and industry statistics. Research was conducted through Babycentre’s Australian, Brazilian, Canadian, Chinese, German, Indian, Russian, UK, US and US Hispanic websites.
For more information on the 2012 Global Media Mum report please visit www.babycentresolutions.co.uk.