Many people use smartphones to shop. (source: SME)
BRATISLAVA Region reports having the most coverage by smartphones in Slovakia, where as much as 71 percent of people who shop online own a smartphone. In total, 64 percent of Slovakia’s inhabitants who shop online own such a phone, as discovered in a study by NMS Market Research conducted in cooperation with the price-comparison website Heureka.sk, the TASR newswire reported.
Bratislava Region is followed by Trnava Region with 68 percent, Banská Bystrica Region with 65 percent, Nitra Region with 64 percent while Prešov Region closes the ranking with 57 percent.
Slovaks use smartphones not only for calling or surfing the web, but more frequently for online shopping too.
“Forty-one percent of smartphone owners shopping online have experience with selecting goods via phone, while 16 percent have already made purchases this way,” said Tomáš Braverman, director of Heureka.sk.
Sales statistics of Alza.sk, an online computer and electronics shop, confirm the dominance of intelligent mobile phones, as six out of 10 phones sold are smartphones, the SITA newswire reported. In terms of turnover, smartphones make up as much as 80 percent of the total sales of mobile phones on Alza.sk. The online shop expects the figure to climb this year to 90 percent, an increase from less than 50 percent in 2012.
Alza.sk does not expect ordinary mobile phones to disappear from the market, but they will make up only a minority. They may remain popular among clients preferring longer battery life and easy-to-use controls.
Based on Alza.sk’s sales data, a person uses his or her mobile phone for about 30 months on average, which is a third longer for smartphones. But there are also many fans of new technology who want to use the latest model on the market, while for others a mobile is a design accessory or a popular Christmas present.
