Mobile Phone Sales Trends in the UK Post-Credit Crunch

It is now widely accepted that the economic slump that started in 2007 has developed into a global recession that is affecting every industry regardless of how robust it may or may not seem to be.

High street chains are slipping into administration as easily as small businesses and it seems that no one is safe, particularly not those who work in the financial sector, and the only way out seems to be through government bail outs and increased spending.

However, there are a few industries who seem to be weathering the storm far better than others, and one of these industries still managing to turn a profit is the mobile phone industry.

During the run up to Christmas most high street brands saw a slump in sales and either made a loss or broken even.

However, one of the few to buck the trend was mobile phone retailer The Car Phone Warehouse who reported a 13% sales increase during the Christmas period which is quite frankly astonishing in the current economic climate.

Much of this continued growth is based on the fact that the mobile phone market is such a consumers paradise, with the constant 18-month cycle of mobile handset use and then upgrading to the latest handset keeping people buying and buying new products, and because pay monthly packages offer `free` phones, or rather the opportunity to cover the cost of a handset over the duration of a contract month on month rather than insisting on one lump sum at the start, it`s a relatively inexpensive proposition for consumers.

What the Consumer Wants
In the post-credit crunch world, mobile companies are having to look at what the consumer really wants out of new handsets and mobile phones deals. With the growing power of 3G networking allowing mobile users around the country to access the Internet at broadband speeds to send e-mail, stream video and download files, and the price of accessing the internet on your mobile phone falling, experts are predicting that it is online functionality which will drive the sales of handsets in the coming year.

Consumers also want to see more functionality squeezed into slimmer and sexier packages, whether it is larger internal storage solutions, pushing the memory of mobile phones from the megabytes to the double digit gigabytes as some of the latest smart phones have done, or providing better multimedia and gaming support.

However, though the average consumer wants better interfaces and improved web access, they will also be looking for budget phones that offer this. The industry is responding well to the changing demands of its user base, though sales figures for smart phones are expected to fall slightly as users opt for the cheaper, mid-range options.

Though the growth is expected to dip across the board, missing out on the high of 21% that was experienced during 2006, the truth is that for consumers around the world, both business and personal mobile users, using a mobile phone has become an integral part of everyday life, and one that will not quickly be relinquished.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Mobiles.co.uk was the UK`s first retail mobile phone website (launched in 1995) and is now the largest web-only mobile phone store in the UK, processing thousands of orders every month. Mobiles.co.uk is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Carphone Warehouse Group. The site offers some of the best online deals currently available with the largest range of free mobile phone gifts such as PS3s, laptops and LCD TVs. Uniquely Mobiles.co.uk delivers these free gifts next day rather than making customers wait 28 days and for the last two years running has been voted Best Online Retailer of the Year by the mobile phone industry.

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