An overwhelming majority of consumers (82.5%) would be prepared to make purchases over their mobile phones, but only 12.6% have ever done so satisfactorily, according to a survey by m-commerce software vendor QPass.
The survey of 183 mobile phone users found that more than three times as many mobile phone users (61.7%) have made purchases via the Internet than over their hand sets (20.2%).
Ken Parkinson, sales and business development director, Europe, Qpass, says mobile phone penetration is almost 100% in the UK, whereas Internet penetration is only about 50%, yet far fewer consumers are willing to purchase goods via their hand sets.
Parkinson says mobile operators in the UK have not had the supporting infrastructure necessary to capture the untapped potential of m-commerce.
Out of respondents who had made a mobile transaction, almost two in five reported some form of error in the transaction process - 18.9% failed to receive the product, 16.2% received multiple SMS text messages for a single purchase and 2.7% didn't understand the item when it appeared on their mobile phone bill.
According to the research, 78.1% would be prepared to use a mobile phone to pay for parking, 56.3% for a newspaper or magazine and 53% for tickets for public transport.