About Hitwise
Hitwise is the leader in online competitive intelligence. Contact Hitwise to maximize your online marketing programs.
Hitwise Intelligence - Robin Goad - UK
Analyst Weblog
« Marks and Spencer traffic up 94% following 1p sale | Increase in traffic to train, bus and coach websites »
Mobile phone recycling searches treble
May 22, 2009
Internet searches related to the recycling of mobile phones have almost trebled over the last 12 months. UK Internet searches for a portfolio of mobile phone recycling search terms – such as ‘recycle mobile phones’, ‘mobile phone recycling’ and ‘phone recycling’ – increased by 189% between the week ending 17/05/2008 and the week ending 16/05/2009.
The surge in demand for mobile phone recycling has led to the emergence of websites that specialize in providing the service. Websites such as Envirofone, Mazuma Mobile and Fonebank - currently the three most popular mobile phone recycling sites in the UK – offer their customers up to £200 to recycle the latest high end models such as the Apple iPhone and Nokia 5800 X-Press Music. UK Internet visits to mobile phone recycling websites has grown in line with searches for their services, and increased by 205% between April 2008 and April 2009.
It’s interesting to note, however, that the increase in searches for mobile phone recycling services is as much driven by financial as environmental concerns. The growth in mobile phone recycling searches has gone hand-in-hand with an increase in online queries relating to the financial benefits of recycling old mobiles. UK Internet searches for terms such as ‘recycle mobile phones for cash’ and ‘recycling for cash’ have quadrupled over the last 12 months. Given the sums on offer, it is perhaps no surprise that cash-strapped Britons are choosing to make some extra money during the recession by selling their unused mobile phones.
Further proof that money concerns are trumping environmental concerns in the current environment is evident in the decrease in searches for other types of recycling. UK Internet searches for the recycling of other items - including computers, electronics (excluding mobile phones), CDs, clothes and furniture - have fallen by 50% over the last 12 months. Searches for regional recycling centres have also decreased by a third over the same period.
Overall, UK Internet searches for recycling have increased by 70% over the last year, but that growth has been almost entirely due to the increase in searches for mobile phone recycling. Mobile phone related searches now account for 75% of all search queries relating to the recycling of specific items or materials, up from 45% a year ago.
Posted by Robin Goad at 11:00 AM
| 
(2)
| 
(1)
In Categories Economy | Environment | Gadgets | Mobile phones | Retail | Search | Shopping and Classifieds
TrackBack
TrackBack URL:
http://weblogs.hitwise.com/movabletype/mt-tb.cgi/1202.
Links to weblogs that reference this entry:
- Brits More Into Phone Recycling than U.S.? ( Buzz About Sustainability)
Seems that the Brits' interest in recycling phones is increasing much faster than the Yanks'. A recent analysis by Hitwise , an internet traffic monitor, showed that U.K. internet searches for mobile phone recycling almost tripled over the last year... [Read More]
Comments
Is treble a britishism for "triple?" From the context thats what it sounds like but being from across the pond I've never heard that term before...
Posted by Easy to use cellphone | July 27, 2009 09:26 PM
This is interesting. Here at the Red Cross we recycle mobile phones for charity. Mobile phone recycling is definitly a growing search term for us, too.
Posted by Brad Smith | May 22, 2009 02:33 PM