36% of the top 100 brands in the UK do not have sites optimised for mobile, according to a study from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) UK.
Carried out in partnership with Kantar Media, the research reveals that the automotive sector within the UK is leading the way with 100% of sites now optimised for mobile, compared to the rest of Europe, where the average is 85%.
In comparison, the FMCG sector in the UK is slightly behind the rest of Europe with just 22% of sites optimised for mobile, compared to 44% in France, 27% in Italy, 55% in Germany and 41% in Spain.
The UK demonstrated the highest score with regards to responsive design, with 24% of top 100 advertisers, such as Sky, Sainsbury’s, Disney and Chanel, having a responsive site, compared to 15% in Spain, 13% in France and Italy, and 7% in Germany.
In August 2013, just 11% of the UK’s top advertisers had responsively designed sites.
According to Google, 62% of the UK population now owns a smartphone, and 91% of these owners use them to access the internet daily. However, just one in three top UK advertisers have mobile-optimised sites, while 54% of sites across Europe are currently mobile-ready.
“Mobile optimisation for brands can no longer be considered a nice to have, but a hygiene factor,” said Alex Kozloff, head of mobile at the IAB.
“From the IAB’s RealView research, we know 78% of recent purchases involved a connected device, and advertisers that are not mobile optimised are closing their shop doors to consumers that want to interact with them.”
