When it comes to the holiday shopping season, consumers are flocking to their mobile devices this year.
New research from mobile security company Trustlook revealed that 71 percent of consumers will shop on mobile during the holidays.
The increased usage of mobile is driven by smartphone proliferation, faster network speeds and innovative shopping apps, all of which are helping to provide a better mobile shopping experience.
According to Trustlook’s survey of Android users, 43 percent of respondents will spend more than $250 on purchases made via mobile, and 40 percent of mobile shoppers prefer their mobile devices versus just 18 percent who prefer to shop in-store.
Not surprisingly, as more shoppers shift to their mobile devices, more fraudsters and cybercriminals are moving to the mobile channel as well.
Despite the growing number of people who plan to shop on mobile for the holidays, Trustlook found that an alarming 64 percent do not have a mobile security app installed on their devices.
“Mobile shoppers need to be more cautious than ever,” said Allan Zhang, CEO of Trustlook, in a statement. “This risk isn’t going away as mobile shopping activity ramps up.”
Over the past five years, the Android platform has seen a 61,000 percent increase in mobile malware, Trustlook confirmed. The company advised mobile shoppers to only download apps from the Google Play store, avoid clicking on suspicious links in emails or text messages and keep device OS and apps updated regularly.
For an infographic on Trustlook’s survey findings, click here.