Mobility in Belgium

Time to Invest

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Introduction

The increasing use of mobile devices is rapidly changing the business landscape on a global scale. Mobile penetration is already remarkable and mobile adoption curves continue to climb fast. Mobile devices are no longer simply convenience tools or expensive toys; they are becoming the most important medium for users to connect to the Internet. The new age of mobility—apps, mobile sites, WIFI, 3G and 4G—opens up plenty of opportunities for companies to better engage with their customers. In order to identify relevant trends for the local market, Accenture has conducted a behavioral survey in Belgium to take the pulse of people already using a mobile device.

About the surveyIn January 2013, Accenture conducted an online survey with 1038 mobile device users based in Belgium.

The target group covered smartphone users and tablet users. 79 percent of those surveyed uses a smartphone whereas 58 percent of those surveyed uses a tablet and 37 percent combine the usage of both devices.

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Executive summary

The survey delivers insights into Belgian market trends and answers questions that will help companies continue to develop their mobile capabilities and support wiser investment decisions in this technology.

1) The digital customer segment is ready to go mobile – The mobile offering is currently lagging behindToday more than 90% of mobile device users are purchasing goods and accessing services online.How can the mobile channel better leverage this?

The population already regularly using a mobile device is growing. This population is a very attractive customer segment with high purchasing power. Currently, 47% of the Belgian active population goes nearly every day online via Smartphone and 32% via Tablet, this last also being a fast growing segment especially by the 30+. This segment is ready to be fully digitally served.

In some industries, Mobile buyers are already spending more than half of their digital budget via mobile devices: Depending on the type of product, 18% to 44% spend more than half of their digital budget via their mobile device.

However, use of mobile devices is not yet comparable to desktop use. This may be due to an underdeveloped mobile offering or a lack of customer experience.

Companies need to seize the opportunity to develop the right sales and service approach for the mobile customer and tap into this potentially profitable customer segment.

2) Apps rule: Don’t make it a mobile websiteAlthough there is growing demand for mobile offerings, companies should refrain from simply transposing their existing online presence to a smaller screen. Our study shows that customers are looking for value-adding apps rather than mobile-enabled websites that are easy to use.

In order to be relevant, companies need to build new capabilities that answer their customers’ needs – rather than extending existing services to another channel.

3) Three OS dominateWindows is now the clear N°3 in the Belgian market. The trio iOS, Android, and Windows cover 92% of the market. This offers a clear choice for companies to concentrate their mobile efforts on the three leading operating systems in order to satisfy the large majority of their customers.

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Smartphone

0% 60%50%40%30%20%10%

Tablet

Desktop/laptop

Higher use No change Lower use

Smartphone

0% 60%50%40%30%20%10%

Tablet

Desktop/laptop

Higher use No change Lower use

Pre-sale: Online search for information on consumer goods

The digital customer segment is ready to go mobile – The mobile offering is currently lagging behind Mobile device users are heavy online consumers. When looking at Internet use without taking into consideration the device used to get online, 96% of mobile users have searched for information on consumer goods in the past 12 months and 86% have purchased consumer goods online.

The survey shows that tablets and smartphones are used across all age groups but they attract the highest usage among students and the working population. Whereas the use of smartphones is widespread, the working population dominates in terms of the use of tablets, indicating that tablet access and use are subject to ownership. All users combined, we see that 57% of smartphone users are going online daily, and this proportion increases among the owners of tablets – of which 64% go online daily.

The mobile device user has a large appetite for online services, pre-purchase preparation and actual purchasing. Ninety-six percent of mobile device users have been searching for information online with the intention of buying goods, whereas 87% of mobile device users have been buying goods online. In addition, 95% of mobile device users are using online customer services.

Pre-purchase preparationIf we look at the development of mobile device usage, we see that growth rates are significantly higher for tablets (44%) and smartphones (35%) compared to the traditional desktop, with some industries – like travel, media, and groceries leading the transition.

Purchasing goods & servicesDepending on the type of product 18% to 44% of people buying via mobile devices spend more than 50% of their digital budget via their mobile device

Looking to the future, we also see a significant increase in the use of mobile devices to purchase products, this increase isn’t as steep as for pre-purchase preparation with smartphones (17%) and tablets (18%), and it is still predicted to grow slower than desktop transactions (32%).

Online customer servicesSimilar to the online purchase process, we also see that for certain types of customer services the penetration of the tablet or smartphone is becoming significant when compared to the desktop (i.e. online bank transactions now stand at 11% for smartphones and 11% for tablets).

The penetration of the desktop for online customer services remains very strong (over 94 % on average) compared with tablets (11 %) and smartphones (7%).

Sale: Online purchase of consumer goods

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In selected industries, the mobile customer segment is spending via mobileTravel & Transport:44% of people buying online via Mobile device allocate 50% or more of their annual online budget to mobile transactions

Media, books & press: 43% of people buying online via Mobile device allocate 50% or more of their annual online budget to mobile transactions

Groceries: 38% of people buying online via Mobile device allocate 50% or more of their annual online budget to mobile transactions

Part of Mobile buyers spending more than 50% of their yearly online purchase budget via Mobile

Travel & Transport

0% 50%40%30%20%10%

Media, Books & Press

Groceries

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Apps rule: Don’t make it a mobile website

The mobile environment currently provides a wide range of apps covering nearly all consumer services and access to the consumer goods market. While such online activities are also enabled via mobile websites, apps appear to be the preferred route for current mobile consumers. On average, the use of apps is 1,5 times greater than the use of mobile websites, and this trend is corroborated in all segments of the consumer goods and services market.

The message from the customer is clear: not only do they already preferring using apps over mobile websites today, but they also are indicating that they will significantly increase their use of apps over the next year. In fact, out of the mobile device users interviewed for this survey, 30% indicated their intention to extend their use of apps.

Use of App versus use of Mobile websites

Booking

Tickets

Health services

Utility services

Financial Services

Media, Books & Press

Telecom

IT equipment

Travel & Transport

Groceries

Fashion

Health care

Home & Office

0% 25%20%15%10%5%

Mobile sites App’s

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OS: Windows now established as N°3 in the Belgian market

The Belgian market is not fragmented. Rather we see it is consolidating around three Operating Systems (OS): iOS, Android, and Windows. Together, they cover 92% of the market.

Another global trend the market faces – and which is fundamental to success – is the multi operating system landscape. Belgium is no exception. In recent years, the diversity of operating systems has been growing with two major players (Android and iOS) still dominating the market, whereas in other countries, Windows has a slightly higher market share than in Belgium.

While users are divided between the different leading operating systems, the availability of apps that function across all of them is essential to reach the whole mobile market potential and not to frustrate existing customers.

Use of Operating Systems

Windows

iOS (Apple)

Android

Blackberry

Other

12%

34%

46%

5% 3%

About the AuthorsWim Decraene Managing Director Mobility Services Accenture Brussels

Wim Decraene is a Managing Director at Accenture, based in Brussels, in charge of Accenture Mobility Services for the Belgian and Luxembourg market. In this role, he has the responsibility of working closely with companies and governmental agencies to drive their development of assets and capabilities to meet the Mobile revolution. For the last 6 years, Wim has been advising a broad range of clients in the Financial Services and Products industry on how to best unlock value in the e- and m-Commerce space. In particular, he has been working with large banks and insurers to develop strategies for their role in the mobile-commerce ecosystem. Wim is also the Strategy Practice Lead for Accenture BeLux. He joined Accenture in 1998 and holds a Masters degree as Commercial Engineer from the Catholic University of Leuven.

About AccentureAccenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 261,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$27.9 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2012. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

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