Smartphones exceeded 250m units in Q3 2013

The number of smartphone shipments is growing continuously according to Juniper Research and exceeded 250 million units in the third quarter of 2013, representing a year over year growth of almost 50% from 2012. Samsung set a new record with an estimated 85 million smartphones delivered, Apple sold 33.8 million smartphones, growing 26% y-o-y, while Nokia sold nearly 15 million units.

These numbers also translate into more revenue for retailers. According to a study released by comScore on 5 European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and UK), mobile retail audience grew by 43 percent over the past year, with 20 percent of smartphone users using dedicated apps or accessing retail websites.

The most popular (23.5 percent) activity whilst in a physical retail store was taking pictures and sending them to friends and family in order to receive advice when making purchase decisions.

When looking at the top 5 goods and services purchased via smartphone, clothing or accessories (5.4 percent) and consumer electronics/household appliances (3.8 percent of smartphone audience) were the most popular retail categories, followed by books (3.8 percent), tickets (3.4 percent) and personal care or hygiene products (2.6 percent).

According to Tapjoy the holiday shopping season might start early this year for mobile users, 55% of consumers planning to begin their holiday shopping right after Halloween and half of them planning to spend up to $50 on mobile purchases.