Shopping on a small screen used to be a bother. But as consumers spend increasingly more of their time glued to their smartphones, retailers are getting savvier with offering apps that ease browsing, suggest the right products and simplify the purchase to one tap on the screen.

According to Visa’s 2016 Digital Payments Study, the number of Europeans regularly using a mobile device for payments has tripled since 2015.

The so-called “appification” of shopping, heralded by advances in mobile technology, has allowed the mobile shopping experience to gain momentum. User interfaces are now tailored to the device, browsing is simpler and more user-friendly, the imagery is better and checkouts are quicker.

According to the study, the top 10 countries where mobile payments are most prevalent fall into two categories: developing markets such as Turkey and Romania, which have been leapfrogging traditional payment methods to adopt new technologies faster; and developed markets – particularly the Nordics – which are evolving to new technologies at differing paces.

Maltese shoppers, however, do not yet seem to be quite as enthusiastic as their European counterparts in hopping aboard the bandwagon and using retail apps on their mobile phones to effect purchases. The lack of statistics on local shoppers’ habits in terms of mobile app purchases makes it hard to draw out clear patterns and trends.

However, Matthew Zammit, digital customer experience senior executive at Vodafone Malta, was surprised by the outcomes resulting from internal data collection.

Mr Zammit is responsible for the new My Vodafone Malta App. The sleek, user-friendly app – coupled with the offer of free 3GB of internet – incentivised many customers to download it.

It can be down to force of habit and a lack of willingness to try out new things

However, there still remained a proportion of customers who preferred to keep on using other more traditional methods of managing their mobile phone accounts, such as physically visiting retail outlets or by phoning customer care.

Delving deeper into why some clients chose to eschew the app, which was specifically designed to facilitate their lives, Vodafone contacted a portion of its customers to inquire why they had opted not to download the app.

The surprising answer was that they “don’t use apps”, and even more astonishing was the fact that the average age of the customers who answered in such a fashion was 49.

“I was rather surprised as I assumed that the over 60 demographic would be the most reluctant to download apps,” Mr Zammit said.

“App usage makes sense from both ends of the spectrum: customers benefit from the maximised convenience by being shifted to the driving seat and empowered to access services from anywhere and at any time.

“Meanwhile, app usage increases a retailer’s efficiency and reduces walk-ins.”

Why have the Maltese not yet become mobile-ready shoppers?

Mr Zammit believes that this behaviour may be down to a number of factors.

“It can be down to force of habit and a lack of willingness to try out new things – their reasoning could be that if something is working, let’s keep on doing it that way.”

There is also a certain amount of steps which need to be followed when downloading an app for the first time. Users would first need to set up a store account with Google Play or Apple App Store. They would then need to learn what apps are available, locate those apps which are relevant to them and then create an account through the retail app of their choice.

Moreover, Mr Zammit notes, not many local businesses have so far invested in designing a dedicated mobile app and in heavily advertising it.

“Abroad, app usage is pushed much more than it is locally. Here in Malta, we are not yet wired to automatically think of apps when wanting to make a purchase.”

In addition, Mr Zammit also observes that another challenge lies in the fact that many Maltese are heavy car users.

“Since there isn’t an overwhelming majority of people using public transport, this means that most Maltese have less idle time which would enable them to do their chores on the go. And upon getting home, the majority would prefer to unwind before the television or on social media.”

However, judging from trends across Europe, mobile retail apps will undoubtedly have an effect on how we shop from now on. It remains to be seen how they will impact this year’s holiday season, but things will certainly be new as mobile becomes a driving force in online shopping numbers.