• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, April 1, 2015

There are now 500 million mobile shoppers globally and that number is on track to hit 650 million by the end of next year.

While many of those mobile shoppers gravitate to purchasing from websites, there’s a reason for retailers to push shopping apps, based on a new global study.

In the last month, a quarter of online adults used a shopping app. While the percentage may not seem high, it equates to almost 375 million people across the markets studied by Global Web Index (GWI).

The GWI Insight Report is based on interviews with more than 170,000 internet users across 32 markets. The research is conducted in quarterly waves, each of which has a global sample size of more than 40,000 internet users.

As might be expected, almost a third (30%) of those 16 to 34 years old uses shopping apps monthly, higher than the average.

The reason shopping app usage matters is because the study found that of those who used a shopping app in the last month, 70% of them bought a product online through their mobile device.

The overall app usage is consistent with another global study by comScore for UPS. That study also found websites leading apps for mobile purchasing, as I wrote about here at the time (Smartphone Purchasing by Apps, 25%; Websites, 75%).

The country from which consumers are making online purchases via mobile device varies widely. Mobile purchases in China, India and South Korea lead the world with the least mobile commerce activity in Japan and Canada.

• 58% -- China
• 45% -- India
• 45% -- South Korea
• 39% -- Turkey
• 35% -- Vietnam
• 34% -- Thailand
• 28% -- Singapore
• 28% -- Mexico
• 26% -- Italy
• 23% -- Spain
• 22% -- Sweden
• 21% -- USA
• 20% -- UK
• 15% -- France
• 14% -- Canada
• 7% -- Japan

However, when it comes to using shopping apps, consumers in the U.S. are in the top tier, still with China in the lead. Here are the top five:

• 50% -- China
• 50% -- South Korea
• 46% -- India
• 46% -- USA
• 45% -- Mexico

As in numerous other studies, the GWI findings point to personal concerns about data, with the majority (68%) worrying about how personal data is used by companies.

But some potentially good news for retailers who have poured countless resource into their apps development: shopping apps live!