Tag: tablet shopping

A new Adobe Digital Insights report showed that smartphones played a considerable role in online shopping.

Mobile commerce sales came to just over $24 billion throughout the holiday shopping season this year. In fact, Adobe Digital Insights data showed that smartphones and tablets brought in that amount from November 1 through December 24.

That doesn’t include online purchases made over mobile devices at the last moment before Christmas.

Among all the mobile commerce sales this holiday season, smartphones were behind the vast majority. In fact, 68 percent of m-commerce purchases came from smartphones. Tablets were responsible for the remaining 32 percent. This represents a shift in usage as it looks as though people are now leaning toward their phones when they previously preferred the larger screened mobile devices.

Retail mobile commerce sales from smartphones brought in $16.63 billion, with $7.92 billion from tablets.

During the holiday shopping period, mobile devices were used for 31 percent of online retail sales, said the Adobe Digital Insights data. The remaining 69 percent of online purchases from retailers was through laptops and desktops. Last year, mobile shoppers represented 28 percent of purchases and in 2014, they made 19 percent of the purchases.

Adobe Digital Insights analysts predict that m-commerce will continue to take on a rising share of online sales. In fact, they stated that it is likely that this trend would have kicked in as early as the winding down of the holiday season. The reason is that from December 21 onward, many people were attending holiday functions and were more likely to have a smartphone in hand than to be seated at a work computer.

The report pointed out that the current mobile shopping experience still involves a certain degree of friction. This is primarily the result of the increased challenges involved in filling in purchase forms online. That said, it also underscored the fact that a growing number of retailers are working on improving that experience.

Retail mobile commerce sales could greatly benefit from the reduction of that friction. Some retailers are looking into options such as payment card information capture through the device camera, for example.

For people who love using their laptops and smartphones to shop or book trips, more tools are now available.

Consumers looking to book a trip or buy something online will want to know about the latest Google shopping search tools.

The largest search engine in the world has now rolled out a range of new search features for shoppers.

The idea behind the new Google shopping search features is to allow consumers to make more informed decisions. Now, more than ever before, consumers are researching, comparing and buying products and services online. This includes the use of their mobile devices as well as laptops and desktops. In particular, research and bookings of a vacation or other form of trip.

The new Google shopping search features include filters meant to help narrow searches based on many factors.

Among the filters are hotel ratings, price and other factors consumers may consider when planning a trip. Google explained that mobile travel and shopping searches had increased by 30 percent over the last year. This encouraged the search giant to launch a range of new features to cater to that activity.

Google said “October through December are traditionally the biggest months for both travel and shopping, and this year we expect mobile to play its biggest role ever,” on its blog.

Among the newly launched Google shopping search features are:

• Hotel tips – which can assist in finding accommodations in the same way the feature already helps consumers to find flight info.
• Hotel smart filters – this allows online and mobile consumers to narrow their shopping searches by price, rating and other factors simply by tapping (or clicking) the screen.
• Price tracking for flights – airline ticket features have also been expanded. This Google shopping search option lets users track routes, dates or even a particular flight, advising of changes in price.

Beyond travel searches, Google also launched Showcase Shopping ads. With those, retailers can assemble collections of related product images. In this way, retailers can showcase more of the products they offer across a much wider category, such as “mobile accessories” or “travel essentials.”