Report highlights the growing power of mobile commerce

Ayden, a provider of omni-channel mobile payment solutions, has released its third Mobile Payment Index report. The report covers the period of September to December 2013 and examines the trends and progress that mobile commerce found during that time. The report reiterates what similar studies have already found: Mobile commerce is growing and showing no signs of slowing down in the foreseeable future. Much of this growth is being partially powered by higher rates of device ownership among consumers.

20% of transactions from September to December 2013 came from mobile devices

According to the report from Ayden, approximately 20% of global transaction came from a mobile device in December 2013. This is up from 12.6% of global transactions coming from mobile devices in 2012. Travel, digital goods, gaming, retail, and ticketing are all areas where mobile payments are thriving. The report suggests that consumers are becoming more comfortable with the idea of mobile payments and are therefore beginning to trust mobile commerce platforms more readily.

iOS devices prove popular in the mobile commerce space

The report shows that iOS devices were the most popular devices when it came to mobile commerce between September and December of 2013. Approximately 41% of all mobile payments made during this four month period came from iPad devices, with 32% coming from iPhones. While iOS devices are popular with those interested in mobile commerce, Android devices have found more success within the mobile commerce space throughout the rest of 2013. Notably, tablets are considered a favorite among consumers when it comes to shopping and purchasing products online.

Retailers are gaining a better understanding of what mobile commerce is and how to engage mobile consumers

Retailers are expected to see a great deal of growth as they begin to focus on the mobile space more heavily. During the 2013 holiday season, many retailers saw a dramatic rise in mobile sales. As retailers begin to better understand consumer behavior within the mobile space, they are likely to provide consumers with better mobile services that can accommodate mobile payments more adequately.

To a growing extent, these platforms are driving visitors to online shopping sites.

The findings from the Q4 2013 Social Media Intelligence Report from Adobe have now been released and have revealed important social media marketing trends, revealing that this channel drives traffic to retail websites.

This report looked into trends involving paid, earned and owned social media.

Among the primary findings of this social media marketing report was that Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr were sending a tremendous and record breaking amount of valuable traffic onto retail websites in the last quarter of last year. It also determined that the revenue per visit (RPV) was rising across each of those networks.

This report used an extensive data analysis to provide meaningful social media marketing insight.

The analysis was performed using a considerable amount of aggregated and anonymous data that was collected from retail, travel, entertainment, and media sites from the last quarter of 2012 to the same quarter last year. This included over 1.5 billion posts on Facebook, approximately 240 impressions on that social network, in addition to 500 million unique social networking site visitors and 6.3 billion Facebook social engagements (which includes likes, shares, and comments). The Adobe Marketing Cloud was used for the paid social data.

The report that Adobe produced based on its analysis concluded that social media marketing is proving to play an exceptionally important role in the formation of the digital marketplace as well as in the way that consumers are being engaged by their favorite brands. That company feels that a more thorough understanding of these trends – regardless of whether they involve Facebook ads, Twitter links, or Pinterest retail placements – will help marketers to be able to improve the success of their campaigns.

Some of the more interesting data from the study also showed that there was a 340 percent year over year increase in the RPV from Tumblr, a 244 percent increase in the RPV from Pinterest, 131 percent from Twitter, and 72 percent from Facebook. This has revealed that when it comes to social media marketing, the ever-dominant Facebook is now starting to see some heavy competition moving in.