Tag: tablet commerce

When compared to a year ago at the same time, mobile shopping increased by nearly a third in the first quarter.

According to the latest IBM Online Retail Index research data, m-commerce has experienced a growth by nearly a third (31 percent) in the first quarter of 2013, when compared to its size at the same time in 2012.

The report pointed out that the growing use of tablets and customer service improvements were primary drivers.

The index states that at the moment, m-commerce is making up 17.4 percent of all online retail sales. This is a notable increase over where it was a year prior, at 13.3 percent. On the whole, spending online, in general, had increased by 20 percent within that same quarter. The index found that tablets are playing an ever increasing role as a driver of shopping over mobile.

They said that m-commerce has become more comfortable as people use iPads and other tablets.

The overall m-commerce traffic, including all devices, rose by 40 percent in the first quarter of 2013. However, among tablets, specifically, there was an increase of almost 80 percent when compared to the same time last year.

The report pointed out that “This trend reflects marketers’ ability to create a positive customer experience for consumers shopping on their iPads and Kindles, by designing for the finger and making it easier for customers to browse via their mobile devices.” The results presented in this report align quite closely with other similar research that is also pointing to tablets in their growing importance for m-commerce.

Earlier in 2013, there was a forecast issued by eMarketer which stated that transactions over tablets made up 57 percent of the almost $25 billion that occurred over m-commerce in 2012. Based on that, they expected the figure to rise to reach 62.5 percent in 2013. This is also interesting as the penetration of tablets is at less than half of that of smartphones. Tablets are currently owned by approximately 20 percent of people in the United States, whereas it is believed that more than 50 percent are already the owners of smartphones.

A recent study from SeeWhy has shown that 75 percent of mobile purchases are made by tablet users.

SeeWhy Inc. has released the results of its latest research, which have shown that over mobile, 75 percent of conversions come from t-commerce, whereas only the remaining 25 percent come from smartphone shoppers.

The marketing vendor suggests that this will make it important for retailers to retarget their mobile strategies.

The SeeWhy study included the examination of 21 million unique transactions that occurred through its approximately 2,500 retailer clients. Furthermore, this data was supported by an additional survey held by the firm, which included the participation of 11,616 American adult consumers.

The mobile and t-commerce survey asked participants regarding their purchasing behaviors.

What it found from the results of both different studies, was that mobile has a definite split in the types of consumers that it provides: smartphone and t-commerce. This, according to the chief strategy officer and founder of SeeWhy, Charles Nicholls. He explained that “What people do with a smartphone is fundamentally different than what they do with a tablet.”

Nicholls also pointed out that “There are three times more conversions on tablets than smartphones. Tablets are where the action is.” For that reason, the survey results suggest that retailers and other merchants may consider shifting their focus to help to make themselves more appealing specifically over t-commerce.

In order to identify the smartphone and t-commerce patterns, the company examined the daily conversion activities over mobile devices. It found that throughout the day, the activity over smartphones was relatively static, and that there wasn’t much of a pattern to be observed. However, it noted that this was strikingly different in the case of tablets.

Nichols pointed out that the activity over t-commerce experiences a strong variance throughout the day. He said that in the evening, as people get home from work, the conversion rates spike considerably. While smartphones are used all day long, tablets are “a recreational device.” This helps to explain why the survey conducted by SeeWhy showed that 56 percent of tablet owners use their devices most frequently at home.