Payments research reveals Brits would rather queue up in store on Black Friday than pay on their mobile

Black Friday is just around the corner with even more UK bargain hunters expected to pounce on big discounts this year. But new research from Judopay shows that not all of these sales will happen online or on mobile, with over a quarter of Brits admitting that they’d rather queue in store than make a purchase on their mobile as it’s ‘too stressful’.

For some queue obsessed Brits (26%), the instore Black Friday experience is more relaxing than buying the same thing on their mobile phone. But why? Apart from our age-old love affair with queuing, what is it that’s making Brits want to get in line rather than online? The research reveals that one in five (20%) UK shoppers actually feel ‘anxious, stressed or frustrated’ when buying something on their phone. For a large number of British shoppers, it’s more stressful to thumb their way to a bargain than it is to stand in line and wait for it with everyone else.

What is it that’s causing Brits to feel stressed when using their phones to buy things? For 35% of people it’s how long it takes to get what they want. The hassle of having to input addresses and card details on a small screen puts off almost a quarter of shoppers (24%) and not trusting the mobile apps that they’re shopping on is why some UK consumers (17%) end up in line rather than online. For some (10%) simply having to make ‘too many clicks will make them too stressed to complete a purchase.

Despite mobile shopping in the UK being on the rise, slow mobile checkout times are turning potential customers away as almost one in five UK consumers have abandoned a purchase on their mobile because the process was too slow. In fact, UK consumers find slow checkouts on retail mobile apps more frustrating than public transport (20%), airport security (17%) and meeting the in-laws (10%).

This is worrying for businesses especially in light of the recent high street store closures as 49% of shoppers state that if a retailer’s app or website takes too long for a payment to go through on their mobile device, they would not return to use that retailer’s app or website again.

Jeremy Nicholds, CEO at Judopay said:

“Retail therapy is not therapeutic if you’re using your phone. Retailers have managed to make shopping on our phones more stressful than hitting Oxford Street on one of the busiest days of the year. Retailers need to understand that complicated online checkouts will lead to customers abandoning their baskets – which can be fatal for those businesses that are relying on a good Q4 to save their year”.