Consumer spending through smartphones and tablets is set to rise to a staggering £53.6bn by 2024, compared to 2014‘s figure of £9.7bn according to research from Barclays.
The news means that retailers who aren‘t creating mobile friendly sites are most likely going to miss out.
However, not all retailers are welcoming developments in mobile technology. Imaging and optical product specialist Canon has today announced a substantial 29% decrease in its first quarter profit – primarily due to snap happy consumers opting to take photographs with their iphones and androids rather than cameras.
Canon‘s net profit decreased to ¥33.9bn in its first quarter, a decline that was considerably lower than the ¥53.64bn yen average that analysts estimated, according to Thomson Reuters. Sales were also down, decreasing by 1.3% to ¥857.4bn.
The ‘selfie generation‘ appears to have taken over good ‘old fashioned’ photography and as a result compact camera sales have slumped by 10%. This is a 70% decrease since the sale of cameras peaked in 2008.
“As for cameras, demand continued to decline both for interchangeable-lens digital cameras and digital compact cameras”, the company‘s review stated.
Basic net income attributable to Canon‘s shareholders per share was ¥31.07 – a year on year decline of ¥11.04.
“Despite solid growth in the US market, interchangeable-lens digital cameras continued to face severe conditions in other regions while sales volume for digital compact cameras decreased in all regions compared with the same period of the previous year,” the statement said.
Canon will need more than a selfie stick to keep up with Instagram obsessed Millennials
