• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, February 27, 2012

Recent research from IBM suggests m-commerce activity is on the upswing, with the share from mobile doubling during the holiday season and on Valentine’s Day. In a new study, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) projects that trend will translate into consumers spending $575 on mobile purchases on average in 2012.

CEA estimated that nine out of 10 U.S. consumers own a tablet, smartphone or a cell phone, amounting to 216 million mobile device owners. More than one-third (37%) of mobile users are engaging in some form of mobile commerce -- either shopping and/or purchasing online or in physical stores, or using coupons or gift cards. 

The categories that people are mostly likely to shop on with mobile devices were music (43%), movies (38%), events/ticketing (37%), clothing/footwear (36%) and books (35%). Mobile users also expect to increase couponing in the next 12 months, with about one in three planning to search for coupons online or in email, as well as redeem them.

Men are expected to outspend women in mobile purchases this year, by $677 to $489. Among age groups, those 35-44 are projected to spend the most at $664 on average, while people making over $75,000 annually will spend $686 via mobile devices.

Recent mobile usage findings from Forrester indicate that mobile shopping is growing, but isn’t yet as widespread as the CEA research shows. In a study released earlier this month, Forrester found the proportion of mobile users researching products doubled to 10% in 2011, while actual mobile purchases have doubled to 4%.

When people who have not made mobile purchases were asked why, half told CES they preferred to buy products in other ways, and 35% expressed concerns about security. Only about a quarter of consumers trust that their information is safe and secure using the mobile Internet, given current authentication safeguards.

“Consumers want assurances that their personal information is 100% safe and secure. They are not fully confident in technologies available,” stated Jessica Boothe, manager of strategic research, CEA.

The CEA study findings were based on a survey conducted among 2,406 U.S. adults between December 16 and 21, 2011. The margin of sampling error is 2%.