There are at least 100 million users on Facebook that are pets, brands or even toasters, which means that out of the website’s 1.1 billion reported users, only 889.3 million are human.

According to estimates provided by the social medium in its latest quarterly reports, Facebook had 1.11 billion active monthly users at the end of March 2013. eMarketer, however, claims that the networking site will not reach that number of human users at least until 2014.

Facebook is currently enjoying the biggest surge of newcomers from India, Brazil, Russia, the Middle East and Africa. This year, each of these markets is forecast to see a 30% uptick in Facebook usage. By contrast, growth in the US, the UK and western Europe is much slower than in emerging markets. Although half of the population in both the US and the UK will log on to Facebook regularly this year, they will tend to spend less and less time on the channel. In western Europe, only 37% of consumers actively use Facebook as many people in France, Italy and Germany are not zealous fans of the social media giant.

Globally, Facebook users will account for 54.7% of Internet users by 2017 compared to 42.6% in 2013, eMarketer also predicted.

This is according to estimates from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, which proved that the warmer weather and school holidays can significantly influence the industry, Chris Webster, VP and head of retail consulting technology at Capgemini, commented. The Easter holidays falling in early April and the rise in temperatures in the second half of the month triggered a higher uptake in holidays, home and garden equipment, alcohol and apparel, which all contributed to the index, Webster added.

Mobile also played a key part in e-commerce growth, with purchases made via mobile devices surging 131% on the year. Although this is far below the 243% improvement recorded the previous month, the slowdown does not seem that surprising as the use of m-retail and mobile technology now becomes more widespread, IMRG explained.

The results also show that online-only retailers continued to perform better than those relying on a number of sales channels, exhibiting a 20% rise in revenues against 14% recorded by multi-channel peers. The figures imply that people’s confidence in shopping over the Internet is increasing, fuelling a rise in the adoption of technologies introduced by pureplay traders.

The industry that benefited most from the warmer weather and the Easter holidays was the travel sector, which saw a monthly growth for the first time since the Index started measuring online travel sales in 2009.

The tool analyses the last 200 tweets posted by a user, who were simply required to enter their username in the online program to calculate age and gender. Then it uses the words and phrases from a database containing data from nearly 3,000 Twitter users and compares the contents to see how they correspond with the different ages and genders, Dong Nguyen, a doctoral student in computer sciences at the university, explained.

Generally, the difference between men and women is quite stereotypical, Nguyen said. Women like to talk about their nails, while men talk about football, she added. As to age, younger Twitter users talk much more about themselves and use emoticons more often, while older users express their thoughts in longer words and sentences.

The program can currently analyse Tweets in Dutch only, but the researchers are working together with the Meertens Dutch language and culture institute to update the tool for other languages. They also plan to expand the program’s capabilities and make it able to decipher posts on other social media sites, such as Facebook.

Jack Morton Worldwide claimed that brand-leaders in the 21st century will be experience brands, as people are becoming more willing to interact with organisations that promise engaging experiences, are more likely to recommend a brand offering a good experience and would spend their money with brands that have been successful in delivering a unique experience.

The report, titled ‘Best Experience Brands’, is based on a survey among 4,000 people across the globe, including 1,000 Britons. It found that in the UK, 74.9% of respondents agreed that they would feel more encouraged to consider shopping with a particular brand if they knew it would deliver a great experience, compared to an overall global rate of 80.4%. Besides, 58.4% of Britons would be willing to pay a premium price if they knew that they would have a superior experience, which is broadly in line with the global average.

Better experiences also fuel the most powerful and trusted form of advertising – word of mouth – the report said. In the UK, 85.5% would advocate a brand and recommend it to friends or family following great experiences.

As a whole, experience influences everyone, but there are certain age groups that are considerably more influenced than others, particularly those aged between 25 and 34. Younger consumers are more likely to consider, recommend or pay a premium price by taking into account brand experience, the research also revealed.

The research, carried out by uSwitch.com among 1,700 people, also found that the average UK smartphone user spends £8.94 on apps and just 14% fork out more than £20, the Telegraph reported.

About four in 10 Britons use apps on a regular basis, with 61% using less than half of the apps they have downloaded and 29% using less than a quarter.

People living in the capital spend the highest amount on apps (£11.89 each per user) and download more than anywhere else in the UK, having an average of 39 apps on their devices. Smartphone users in the South West tend to allocate the smallest amount for apps, at £4.79 on average, downloading just 23 apps.

Not surprisingly, people in the 18-24 group have the highest number of apps on their devices, at 37, but use only 37% of them actively. People aged between 55-64 appear to be the most economical, downloading 23 apps on average but using 44% of them regularly.

Many people download apps as they are curious to see what they offer, but only use them on rare occasions, Ernest Doky, telecoms expert at uSwitch, commented. The low level of app usage could also be blamed on pop-up adds and hidden costs, which could result in running up unusually high bills if the apps downloaded were unauthorised or of low value, he noted.

EPiServer’s study, entitled ‘Mobile commerce: What consumers really want’, showed that about two-thirds of Britons owning a smartphone go online via their devices every day, with more than half of them using their gadgets to purchase items at least once a week. The e-commerce and digital marketing solutions provider identified speed as the factor that most often ruined their experience with a retailer, which was cited by 49% of the 1,000 consumers polled. Apart from slow loading times, 48% of consumers find it irritating when they have to navigate both horizontally and vertically in order to view a page. Another 37% complained of signing in difficulties, while 35% said that links appeared too small on a mobile screen.

More than half of consumers would leave a website if it fails to run adequately and 28% admitted that they would visit a competitor website, implying that retailers might be missing out on new customers and potential returns if they are not complying with consumers’ mobile expectations.

‘Mobile First’ consumers, who are pushing the PC to the back seat, are championing the critical importance of the mobile channel to companies’ online strategies, David Bowen, product manager at EPiServer, commented. The adoption of smartphones and tablets is expanding at a quick rate and consumers are becoming less merciful, expecting mobile sites and pages to provide an engaging experience consistent with that on a desktop PC, he said.

The research showed that m-commerce apps are popular with 66.8% of Britons owning a smart device, above the 57.6% in Germany, 55.9% in the US and 52.5% in France.

Britons are also leaders in terms of m-commerce session numbers, with 54.5 sessions a month on average, which is about 50% higher than the number registered in all western markets monitored.

UK smartphone users also spend more time on m-commerce apps, staying on average 134.8 minutes with an application running on their device. Americans, meanwhile, spend 91 minutes per month over 30.8 sessions, Germans dedicate 74.3 minutes a month to m-commerce apps over 32.1 sessions, while in France consumers stay 56.1 minutes a month with an app across 23.9 sessions.

The most popular m-commerce app in the UK is eBay, which is used by around 44% of Arbitron’s mobile panelists for some 144 minutes each month. Next comes Amazon Mobile, which was however used by just 16% of Britons for 29.1 minutes a month, followed by Groupon, Nectar and Maximiles.

The results once again prove Britons’ increasing interest in new distribution channels, as well as their remarkable acumen in technology, Andreas Piani, general manager of European Arbitron Mobile, told Mobile Commerce Daily when asked to comment on the findings. The results should also encourage retailers to capitalise on the huge popularity of mobile and make sure that their marketing strategy provides for efficient interaction with consumers across the various platforms, he said.

Global Market Insite (GMI) has found that 90% of social media account holders have never shopped with a retailer via a social platform. At the same time, nearly all users search, read reviews and seek good deals when browsing social media sites.

Despite consumers’ reluctance to spend money via social media, the medium is increasingly used as a source of ideas and purchase advice, as 27% of social media users said. Another 26% read comments and reviews, 23% search for photos, 18% read friends’ social media posts and 7% watch videos. The results also suggest that consumer trust of brands on social media is still much lower than the trust they have for peer recommendations, as just 13% of users look at a brand’s own product descriptions.

Meanwhile, consumers are broadly eager to show their partiality for a brand as more than four in ten have liked a brand’s social media page. However, just 2% trust online retailers selling via social media against 59% who place trust in high street retailers and 36% in online retailers.

The products most likely to be purchased on social media are entertainment, fashion and health and beauty, GMI also found.

IMRG asked 1,290 Britons, including 864 regular online shoppers, to study the delivery perceptions and needs of UK consumers. The e-retail industry community found that 74% of UK consumers consider good delivery experience as a great incentive to purchase again from a particular retailer, Internet Retailing reported. Meanwhile, social media once again proved its ability to dictate consumers’ buying decisions, as 56% of those polled said that they have chosen a retailer based on comments posted on social networks.

When shopping online, consumers tend to often search for delivery information both before they make a purchase and before the delivery. What also encourages consumers to buy from a retailer is the opportunity to pick on their own the day or time for the delivery.

More than one in eight of the respondents prefer to have the items bought online delivered to home and 21% cited work as their usual delivery point. Click & Collect, a new option offered by more and more retailers, is the most common choice for 12.5% of UK consumers.

The additional cost of delivery is what worries consumers most about home delivery, which was cited by 60% of the respondents, followed by concerns as to what happens if they are not at home when the parcel arrives, cited by 56% of the sample.

According to the research, about 64% of UK Internet users were also present on a social media platform last year, up from 59% in 2011. This growth was fuelled by older users, aged between 55 and 64, of whom 35% had a social media profile against 24 the previous year. Despite the higher number of social media fans, more Britons (43%) said they doubt that everything they read or see on social outlets was true against 35% in 2011.

More than seven in 10 social media users visit their profile at least every day, 50% check them once a day and 9% do so more than 10 times daily.

The report, which was titled ‘Adults’ Media Use And Attitudes’, also revealed that, on average, Britons go to 19 websites over a typical week. Of course, the number is different among the different age groups, with those over 75 reporting that they visit seven websites on average. People in AB households have 27 favourite websites they visit over the course of a week and men use 24 web pages on average.

More than half of UK users now go online via their handsets and 16% use a tablet, Ofcom said. Last year, the percentage of Britons owning a smartphone grew to 54%, from 44% in 2011. Unsurprisingly, smartphones were most popular with people in the 16-24 age bracket, followed by the 35-44 year-olds and those aged between 55 and 64.

Britons owning a smartphone perform various activities online compared to those that are yet to buy a smart device and use of these devices in 2012 increased greatly over smartphone users in 2011. More people now rely on their handsets to find maps or satellite navigation to find the desired location more easily and send or receive e-mails and photos.

Recent research from Rakuten Linkshare, which underscored the importance of digital technology to male consumers. According to the results, men in Britain will increasingly be seeking to purchase items from fashion brands available on the web this year and just 8% of them will go to the high street to shop for luxury products. Besides, more than six in 10 of the 1,000 men surveyed admitted that failing to find their favourite luxury brand online would make them feel disappointed.

Men would be extremely tempted to shop from a specific brand if it offered discounts, according to more than half of those polled. About a quarter of men would feel more encouraged to purchase items if the retailer provided free delivery. Another 42% cited coming across an ad promoting free delivery or a product as a strong incentive to shop.

Men will be mostly relying on apps when deciding what products to buy this year, the research also showed. Over 50% of the men participating in the poll said that they have a shopping app on their device, with cash-back apps proving to be most widespread, used by more than 25% of younger male shoppers. Around 20% of men in the 18-35 age group have installed a barcode scanner app on their mobile, 16% use apps developed by particular brands and 19% have QR code apps.

These are some of the findings revealed by Globalwebindex (GWI) in its Stream Social Q1 2013 report. The results are based on a survey among 31,779 consumers in 31 countries between January and March.

According to the Internet researcher, Twitter saw the most impressive growth among the major social media platforms, with the increase implying that 35% of global web users now have an account for the micro-blogging and social networking service. Facebook, the world’s biggest social network, came second with a 35% uptick in its user base, followed by Google+ with 33%.

More than two in 10 (22%) Twitter users log on to the platform regularly, particularly older consumers, who have become more active than ever on the platform. A total of 79% of people aged between 55 and 64 said that they use Twitter quite often, GWI said.

In terms of user numbers, Facebook remained the largest social platform, having 63% of global Internet users among its account holders, or a total 860 million people. Facebook was again the leader in terms of engagement, hitting a rate of 82%. Next came Twitter and Google+ with engagement rates of some 60%, followed by Pinterest and LinkedIn with around 50%.

One of the drivers behind the rise in social media use is mobile technology, GWI said. Since the first quarter of 2011, the number of Internet users going online via a handset has expanded by 60.3% to 818.4 million across the 31 markets analysed.

This is the forecast contained in a report prepared by OC&C Strategy Consultants in partnership with Google. The study, titled ‘Britain’s Retail e-mpire’, also suggested that the number of non-UK users visiting the web pages of British brands and retailers will surge by an average of 46% by 2020.

The researcher also predicted that, over the next seven years, international online sales will make up 40% of UK retailers’ combined online sales, rising three times faster that online sales at home.

North America is likely to remain the UK retailers’ biggest single overseas market, where they will enjoy an increase in sales to £2.7 billion in 2020 from £800 million in 2012. Shoppers from western European countries will contribute £9.8 billion to UK retailers’ revenues in 2020 against £1.5 billion last year. In central and eastern Europe, UK brands will see sales soar to £6.9 billion from £400 million, while in Asia sales will expand to £4.5 billion from £400 million.

British retailers are becoming increasingly attractive to foreigners as they offer a richer choice and competitive pricing bolstered by the depreciation of the local currency, adequate service and compelling site experience.

There has been a significant rise in the number of international searches for British retailers and brands, most of them coming from Europe, followed by North America and Asia, Peter Fitzgerald, director at Google, commented. This growth is fuelled by UK retailers’ increasing popularity overseas, which would better hurry to identify the locations where demand is strong to take measures to comply with the needs of customers, he said.

Qubit peeked into over 100 million visits on 90 major e-commerce websites between December 2012 and January 2013. The research proved that users of Microsoft’s search tool not only produce the highest average conversion rate (3.14%) but also have the highest customer value, at £2.42 per visit. According to Qubit, the higher potential of those browsing with Internet Explorer to convert from users to customers makes them the most valuable customer group based on browser type, Econsultancy said.

The findings come despite the fact that other browser users have higher basket values, with Firefox users estimated to have £110.99 in average basket value totals and Safari browsers – £108.44. By comparison, the average basket value of Internet Explorer users was £76.87, even less than the amount logged by Chrome surfers, at £90.36.

Consumers using Firefox to browse and shop have the second biggest average conversion rate after Internet Explorer, of 2.18%, followed by Chrome with 1.84% and Safari with 1.6%. Firefox users spend £2.41 on average each time they visit a retail site, those using Safari make purchases worth £1.78 and Chrome users spend £1.66 on average.

According to data from visitor counter service StatCounter, Google Chrome enjoyed the bulk of the UK search engine market share, handling 37.09% of all queries. Second came Internet Explorer with a 29.82% share, followed by Firefox with 21.34% and Safari with 8.60%.

The report from the Boston Consulting Group, titled ‘Follow The Surplus: European Consumers Embrace Online Media’, looks into media consumption trends in nine European countries between November 2012 and January 2013. The researcher has established that about 40% to 60% of the perceived value consumers get from media, excluding related costs, is generated from online media.

In an increasing number of categories and markets, the ‘consumer surplus’ from online media is now wider than that from offline, the researcher said. Boston Consulting has estimated that consumer surplus, which is calculated by analysing the difference between what people are willing to pay for goods or services relative to its market price, was around EUR2,100 on average.

The researcher said that Europeans are starting to consume more media through a large number of connected devices such as smartphones, tablets and Internet-enabled TVs. In addition, the launch of high-speed data networks is set to further accelerate consumers’ shift towards online media consumption in the coming years.

In six of the countries analysed, the online surplus was more than 50% of the total figure, with the Czech Republic and Italy recording the largest proportions, 63% and 60% respectively. In the UK, France and Germany, online media constituted less than 50% of the total surplus, at 47%, 42% and 39%, respectively, Warc reported.

The UK was among the countries that recorded a fall in the number of its active Facebook users in the last six months, seeing it decline by 4.55%, or by about 1.4 million people. Currently, about 31 million UK users log on to the social media platform each month, which means that about 50% of the country’s population is now on Facebook.

During the same period, a total of 8.6 million Americans shunned the platform. Major markets such as France and Germany also saw more people stay away from the channel.

Britons aged between 25 and 34 are the most active on Facebook, making up around 7.9 million of the total, followed by younger users in the 18-24 age group. The UK is now Facebook’s seventh most developed market, preceded by the US, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey.

Despite the decline in user numbers, 60% of questions asked by consumers to brands on Facebook now receive responses, which implies that the medium is gaining importance among companies, SocialBakers noted in a previous report. Many consumers now lack the time or patience to seek customer advice by phone or e-mail and find Facebook communication the easiest and most convenient approach to reach a company. Brands are apparently getting to grips with the trend and are starting to realise the importance of using Facebook for social customer service, the researcher said.

According to an article from market observer TNS, mobile phones can be used to tame the risk of showrooming by boosting brand interaction with consumers and converting them from browsers into customers.

The research has found that 33% of the 38,000 people surveyed across 43 countries have visited a store to try out products without buying them, with 21% using their mobile devices while showrooming. TNS argued that this represents a huge opportunity for brands to approach consumers in a buying environment, as these activities hint that they are ready to interact with brands whilst in a store.

Over 20% of smartphones users participating in the poll said that they were willing to receive mobile coupons during their shopping trip and 13% would be interested to use the services of a ‘virtual sales assistant’, which could provide additional information about items.

Showroomers generally want to find out more about the price of a product and its suitability and they successfully achieve this by reading reviews, in social media, from friends and family and sales staff. This suggests that brands need to adopt a more integrated approach that allows for reaching consumers and meeting their needs at all touchpoints, according to TNS.

“Rather than seeing mobile as a threat to in-store sales, brands and retailers must embrace it as the most immediate and personalised way to engage shoppers to ensure that they don’t leave empty-handed,” Matthew Froggatt, Chief Development Officer at TNS, commented.

The Barclays Online Business Outlook 2013 suggests that over the past three years, online companies achieved an average annual improvement of 11.4%, while the country’s economy expanded by just 0.2%. The figures confirm that online businesses have bucked the trend and gained strong momentum despite the volatile market conditions, Sean Duffy, managing director and head of technology, media and telecoms at Barclays, commented. He considers that the next important step will be to maintain this growth level and make the most of new and emerging trends.

The report also found that more than one in six online firms are considering deploying a mobile strategy, which was a key driver behind the successes this year, but still, most companies (60%) are yet to come up with a strategy to capitalise on this medium. Meanwhile, 89% of firms operating online are yet to make their website mobile-friendly. Organisations that have already optimised their sites for mobile or developed apps attributed 27.8% of their revenues to mobile technology. Besides, 34% have seen an increase in the number of users reaching their website via mobile devices since the start of the year compared to the previous year.

When asked about their expectations for the year ahead, about two-thirds said that they were upbeat about their prospects, with just 4% admitting that they were not optimistic about their future performance.

The Ultras are those who use social media as their main channel to talk to friends and families and when they are compelled to stay away from them, they start to feel isolated. There are also Deniers, who keep insisting that social media does not control their lives and believe that they can survive without it. It turns out, however, that failing to get access to their most preferred network for long periods makes them feel nervous and solitary.

The Peacocks use social networks to show everyone how popular they are by attracting as many friends, followers and likes as possible. The Approval Seekers behave similarly on social media, as they count the likes and comments they get after posting a message and consider this as evidence for their popularity. Any lack of response makes them feel anxious and they are constantly on the lookout for friends’ reactions.

Another group is the Dippers, who have Facebook and Twitter accounts but rarely visit the platforms and it takes days or even weeks before they tweet or post an update. The Virgins are those users making their first steps into the social media world, who often find difficulty in understanding and dealing with how Facebook and Twitter actually work. There are also Lurkers, who hardly ever appear online and monitor only what others are posting on social networks and almost never take part in conversations, fearing that they have nothing interesting to say, but they do keep complaining publicly about the boring stuff that is posted.

Euromonitor surveyed 6,200 consumers in 15 countries and found that 35% of them use their mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones, to check a brand’s website while in a store, with only 30% talking to the salespeople.

However, this trend does not apply universally. For example, consumers in emerging markets, like Brazil, Colombia and India, prefer the human touch, but, in developed countries, especially the UK and Japan, consumers are three times more likely to seek information on a website on their mobile device rather than speaking to the sales staff in a physical store.

China is showing the highest tendency to check online for information while in-store, with more than half of the polled being likely to do that against less than 40% of the surveyed communicating with the salesperson.

In an attempt to attract customers, some retailers have introduced in-store kiosks, but as the survey showed, that did not prove very popular, with only 16% saying they have used one. Those scanning QR codes were less than 10%, but this practice turned out to be very common in emerging countries like India and China. More than 40% of consumers in developed markets have never used the scanning technology to get the product details.

As a result of the poll, Euromonitor advised physical stores to improve technology and the overall shopping experience to meet shoppers’ demand.