The Q2 2026 benchmarking report for UK second hand mobile phone resellers has just been published. Learn how the top 12 resellers perform across the digital space.
The latest Q2 2026 benchmarking report for UK second hand mobile and technology resellers has just been published. It covers the largest 12 resellers' websites in the UK, including Mazuma Mobile, musicMagpie, Tech Market, Mobiles.co.uk, Back Market, The iOutlet, Envirofone, Handtec, 4Gadgets, The Big Phone Store, Smart Cellular, and MTR Group.
The research gives an inside track on who is winning the biggest share of voice online, and quantifies the gaps, risks and missed opportunities for other second hand mobile phone resellers to win brand exposure, drive traffic online, and increase both orders and the acquistion of new stock. The report highlights quick wins that will improve enquiries from your online strategy and identifies the barriers that may be reducing your site’s ability to optimise digital performance.
To see a preview and contents page of the Q2 report, click here. To get a copy of the full report and the key takeaways, please complete the enquiry form or schedule a call.
Q2 2026 winners leader board
For a glance into just 6 of the metrics we evaluated these top 12 second hand mobile phone resellers on, check out our quick-look table below;
To understand what the *CTM Digital Performance Index™ is click here.
Continue reading for further detail on this quarter's best and poorest-performing UK second hand mobile phone resellers or request a copy of the report for the full review.
What The Industry Research Report Covers
The 70+ pages of research benchmarks each retailer based on 50+ metrics and indicators of successful digital strategy, including organic visibility, domain authority, paid media ads, conversion performance, technical performance, site speed, universal search, content, social ads, accessibility, and mobile performance.
Driving Optimal ROAS from Paid Media Channels
Some of the leading players in the space are high spenders on paid media channels such as Google, Bing & Facebook - but have a poor or sub-optimal conversion improvement strategy. Without an optimised, sophisticated conversion strategy that maximises the conversion rate, the return on investment is unsustainable or will under-perform. Scaling spend on paid media is not achievable unless the conversion rate delivers optimal performance in the sector. Some in the space have paid media spend levels from 30k+ per month but dedicate minimal resources and budgets to conversion testing. Given the cost per clicks on ad networks will continue to rise, we recommend spending at least 10% of your paid media budget on ongoing conversion optimisation testing schedules to ensure your paid media ROI maintains long term viability, competitive advantage, and sustainability.
Pay-Per-Click Marketing
Pay-Per-Click marketing is constantly evolving, with more and more advertisers being forced to hand over a lot of control to Google's algorithms as the push for automation grows ever stronger. There are still key elements of control that we have though, the main one of these being budget which is ultimately something the algorithms can't take from you. That's why being smart with your budget and ad coverage is essential to achieving strong results and bettering what your competitors have to offer.
For Q2 2026, the average monthly budget wastage across these UK second hand phone resellers was £87,872 with some of the top players in the market spending a considerable amount on areas and audiences unlikely to deliver a return. We can see this in more detail when looking at the average monthly cost per cost-per-click (CPC) amongst advertisers, with the average of this metric being £6. This highlights how competitive the market is and how important it is to control your budgets effectively.
There are varying monthly ad budgets across the competitors in the report. While this gap highlights the competitive advantage that larger budgets can provide, it's not just about spending more; it’s about spending smarter. By focusing on driving efficiency in campaign management, targeting, and budget allocation, businesses with smaller budgets can still effectively compete with larger players. Investing in data-driven strategies and refining ad performance can help close the gap and maximise the return on every pound spent, enabling growth even in a competitive landscape. Relative to their spend, Envirofone reported the lowest monthly cost-per-click (CPC) at £1, and Tech Market reported the highest at £16.
The report highlights the importance of budget efficiency by comparing monthly ad spend with estimated CPC in relation to your competitors, see who has the highest and lowest CPC. To maximise the effectiveness of your budget, it’s essential to focus on driving CPC down while maintaining or improving campaign performance. In this report, Handtec has the lowest estimate monthly ad spend at £947, and Back Market has the highest at £3,950,000.
By optimising targeting, refining ad copy, and leveraging data to identify high-converting opportunities, you can ensure every click delivers maximum value. This approach not only stretches your budget further but also boosts your return on ad spend (ROAS), enabling you to achieve stronger results without simply increasing expenditure.
Technical Website Compliance
Savvy digital marketers know that having a technically sound website is an essential component of a successful fully integrated digital strategy - plus a site capable of maximising conversion performance. Second hand mobile and technology resellers will want to ensure customers can find information on buy and sell rates for different models, along with details needed for postage and order tracking.
Mobiles.co.uk continues to not report any 404 errors (a goal other brands should set, too). Website owners should keep their sitemap updated whenever changes are made to site structure or URLs. Accurate sitemaps help search engines understand the website correctly and reduce the likelihood of outdated pages appearing in search results.
Site Speed & Conversion Rate Performance
When 62% of consumers are less likely to convert if they have a negative mobile site experience, ensuring that your site is quick and easy to load makes a significant improvement on your overall conversion rates. In a saturated market, second hand mobile phone sellers must ensure that both customers looking to buy and sell are getting a positive user experience from every touchpoint.
In our previous audit, Tech Market reported the slowest mobile site speed (21). This quarter, Tech Market has since increased their score to 25, though they’re still the brand to watch. A fast mobile website can encourage users to explore more pages during each visit. If loading times are quick, visitors are more likely to continue reading articles, viewing products, or interacting with additional content across the site.
Building Competitive Advantage with Domain Authority
Domain authority is an essential metric for measuring the effectiveness of SEO performance, and helps create a reliable overall gauge of how effective your site is at achieving organic traffic, i.e. ‘free’ traffic that isn’t gained through sponsored ads. Second hand mobile phone sites can look at exploring the environmental impact of using second hand technology, as an interesting central topic for a digital PR campaign.
Previously, Tech Market reported the lowest DA score (8). This quarter, Tech Market has decreased their score to 4.2, remaining the brand to watch. Strong domain authority can make it easier for websites to compete in crowded industries. Even when competing against large or well-established brands, a high authority score can help smaller websites gain traction. This levels the playing field in competitive search markets.
Organic Performance – Mobile & Desktop
A strong organic performance is strategically important as it ensures your site ranks above competitors for key, transactional keywords. When 93% of your customers won’t go past the first page of Google, your absence or lack of targeting for essential keywords will cost you conversions. Second hand mobile phone resellers have an opportunity to gain organic traffic, due to an increase in interest in both buying and selling second hand mobiles, due to the cost of living crisis. Customers are likely to be looking for a more affordable way to purchase a handset, along with selling their older models to raise some extra cash.
Three brands reported a decrease in organic traffic on desktop, with Tech Market seeing the biggest loss (-26%). On mobile, four brands reported a decrease in organic traffic, with Envirofone also seeing the biggest loss (-36%). Some industries naturally receive more desktop traffic than mobile traffic due to the nature of their audience. For example, B2B services, finance platforms, or software providers may attract users researching in office environments. Other industries, such as restaurants or local services, may receive far more mobile traffic.
Universal Search Opportunity
Google Universal Search Results is an evolving opportunity to make your pages visible on a SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Universal results often appear before traditional listings and are eye-catching for users. Universal Search results refer to rankings on a SERP that are not the traditional ‘blue line’ Google link, and a site can appear for universal search results without being strong in standard rankings. Second hand mobile phone resellers will want to ensure they have a strong performance for 'reviews' results, ensuring that potential customers can feel confident in getting a good deal, from both buying and selling their old technology.
Back Market continues to secure the most Universal Search appearances (20,428) — a decrease from 24,116 previously. The majority of their appearances came from ‘images’ (16,700).
The Longtail Keyword Opportunity
Longtail keywords are often considered high intent and potentially more likely to convert as a searcher is being more specific. Optimising for longtail keywords also puts your content strategy in a strong position to rank for retailer new search terms as they enter Google’s index. Second hand mobile phone resellers can optimise towards high purchase-intent phrases, such as 'fast delivery', 'payment plan', or even specific models.
Back Market continues to secure the most longtail keyword appearances for position 3 (3,678) — an increase from 3,522 previously. Back Market also continues to secure the most appearances for positions 4–10 (11,917) — an increase from 11,623 previously. Using longtail keywords can help websites capture traffic from multiple smaller search opportunities. While individual phrases may have lower search volumes, collectively they can generate significant amounts of organic traffic.
Facebook Adverts
With the number of Facebook users in the United Kingdom (UK) hitting over 44 million users in 2023, it is not surprising that companies have jumped at the opportunity to advertise on the social media platform. Facebook’s UK digital advertising revenue has been estimated to have breached 2.6b GB pounds in 2019.
We’ve included screenshots of Envirofone’s sponsored Facebook posts. Brands can use image carousels to highlight different features of a product in a clear and organised way. Each image can focus on a separate detail, making it easier for audiences to understand the benefits without overwhelming them with too much information at once.
Top Social Shares & Content
When it comes to social media and on-site content strategies, it is important to release content that has a longer shelf life. An article is considered 'Evergreen' if it has maintained its relevancy to an audience for longer. It's great for your brand engagement, but great for Google too, who will recognise content which achieves traffic over a long period of time. Second hand mobile phone resellers can create shareable social content that details cost saving, environmental impact, and other key benefits of using a second hand mobile phone.
Back Market secured the most Facebook Likes (587,400) — an increase from 575,400 previously. Back Market also secured the most Instagram followers (207,300) — an increase from 185,400 previously.
Facebook and Twitter were the most popular social media platforms of all brands. Mazuma Mobile received the highest total engagement rate (238) and the highest average engagement (21).
Website Readability & Accessibility
20% of people in the UK have a disability – 2 million of which are people living with sight loss. In addition, 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have some degree of colour vision deficiency. When websites are not designed to meet these needs, retailers lose customer interest as they turn elsewhere. Sites which have large volumes of products, with different models that may only differ slightly in their specifications, must ensure that information is presented as clearly as possible, to improve accessibility.
In our previous report, Smart Cellular received the most accessibility alerts (184). This quarter, Smart Cellular has reduced their total to 173, demonstrating progress. Currently, the brand with the most accessibility alerts is Handtec (242). Websites with fewer unnecessary accessibility alerts often appear more professional and user-focused. Thoughtful accessibility design demonstrates that the business values all visitors and wants to provide a smooth browsing experience.
Get the full 70-page Q2 2026 report
To get a copy of the full report, please complete the enquiry form. If you want to talk to us about accelerating your digital performance, please call us on 01543 410014 or schedule a call with Rory Tarplee.