5:40 pm, February 25, 2011
CONSUMERS searching the web via mobiles will overtake searches on computers by 2013, says Google.
The search giant told conference delegates at its inaugural Think Dealer conference on Thursday that car dealers need to be prepared for this change.
Having your dealer website optimised for mobile phone access is becoming increasingly important and will soon become the norm when designing new sites.
Currently just 27 per cent of the UK population has a smartphone – but Google predicts that will rise to 80 per cent within four to five years!
You only need to look at the number of people carrying a mobile phone to see why mobile web access is rapidly becoming the most popular way to search the internet.
In the UK there’s 128 per cent market penetration for mobile phone use, in Italy that’s even higher at 150 per cent.
‘You’re probably thinking how can you have more than 100 per cent market penetration,’ Google’s mobile industry manager Stephany van Willigenburg told delegates.
‘Well, that’s because a lot of people have more than one phone. Some have a work phone and a personal one, others have two because they’re waiting for their contract to run out.
‘In the next five years there will be one billion mobile internet users globally and by 2013 we expect there to be more Google searches on mobiles than on PCs. And people aren’t afraid to buy on their mobiles either. eBay clocks up one sale every second via a mobile phone and last year Amazon revealed $1bn of sales were made on mobiles.’
Google’s van Willigenburg explained that mobile searches are increasing for a number of reasons, but mostly because people have them on them all the time.
‘They are private devices,’ she said. ‘People can search for their next car on their phone and other people around them won’t know what they’re looking at.’
She explained the most popular times for consumers to be using their mobiles was during the morning commute, lunchtimes, after work and at weekends – all prime times for car buyers to be researching purchases.
Car Dealer Magazine was the only media present at this exclusive conference for marketing directors from car manufacturers. A full report of the day’s discussions with countless top tips for car dealers as well as where the market is heading online will be in the next issue, out on March 14.
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