Australia has one of the highest levels of smartphone penetration, with 80 per cent of over-18s owning a mobile device. Picture: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

The payments platform has released its first mCommerce Index, which tracks the shopping behaviours of Australian consumers.

According to the study, just one fifth of Australians spend more than $500 per month using their mobile, and one in 10 spend more than $1000 per month.

Bill payments were by far the most popular category, with just under three quarters of Australians having made phone, utility, insurance or other bill payments on their mobile device in the last six months.

Other key categories of for mobile purchases were tickets (53 per cent), clothing and accessories (43 per cent), travel (38 per cent) and food and drink (37 per cent).

The big reason? Security. “These top performing categories represent consumer transactions with major, mainstream businesses with well-established online commerce platforms,” the report said. “Regular and familiar use, plus lessened concerns for security by consumers, are believed to be factors in promoting mCommerce within these categories.”

More than one third of Australians make a mobile payment ever week, with that figure jumping to just under half for under 35s.

Mobile payments are estimated to account for around $5 billion of Australia’s $20 billion online retail commerce market, but the report found only 49 per cent of online businesses were optimised for mobile.

While PayPal doesn’t disclose its local figures, PayPal Australia managing director Libby Roy said one in three transactions on the platform in Australia are made on a mobile device.

“When we looked at what consumers found difficult and annoying, the big thing was when there were too many forms, too many fields, or the site just doesn’t actually work,” Ms Roy said.

“When you look at the different demographics, it’s the millennials that get the most annoyed when websites don’t work on their mobile. Fifty-nine per cent of them said they found it annoying, whereas the only 28 per cent of the over-50s said it annoyed them.”

Ms Roy said the other big theme was the growth of social commerce — purchasing directly via Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. According to the study, 11 per cent of Australians have already made a purchase via a social platform.

However, only 7 per cent of businesses accept payments via social media sites and apps, 89 per cent said they had no plans to do so within the next six months. “Social commerce is really with us and people are engaging with it quite quickly,” Ms Roy said.

Australia leads the world in mobile use, with 80 per cent of the population aged over 18 owning a smartphone. “If we look at the history of commerce in Australia we know that the incidence of internet purchases, over a three-month period, back in 1999 was approximately 5 per cent,” said Roy Morgan research analyst David McLeod.

“In 15 years it’s certainly possible that purchasing via social media by smartphone users will be as ubiquitous as online payments are now.”

The mCommerce Index, commissioned by PayPal and conducted by Roy Morgan Research, was based on a survey of nearly 1000 consumers and more than 100 businesses.

frank.chung@news.com.au