Category: Tablet Commerce

Confidence is growing among mobile shoppers and the gap between the use of the devices is closing.

One of the primary struggles that have been faced so far in the mobile shopping world is in consumer confidence, and tablet commerce has always had far greater results in this area than the smartphone channel.

Even veteran online shoppers often struggle with their confidence and comfort on the smaller screen.

For several years, tablet commerce has seen considerably greater conversions than those experienced over smartphones, as consumers using those devices are more receptive to shopping than they are on the much smaller screens. This has been especially true over the iPad, specifically, although all of the larger screened mobile devices do perform better than smartphones when it comes to shopping, overall.

It has never been determined specifically why tablet commerce has done so much better than smartphone shopping.

Smartphone conversions have traditionally lagged far behind those over tablet commerce. However, the most recent statistics are starting to show that the gap between the conversion over these two channels is starting to shrink. Though the latest Adyer platform data showed that mobile purchases grew to 52.6 percent in the May to August quarter when compared to the 46.8 percent over the quarter before.

Ayder has speculated that this could be a summer trend, but it is causing many to watch the smartphone and tablet commerce figures over the next quarter to see if they continue in the same direction.

It has been guessed that the numbers may be moving that way as people become more dependent on their smartphones than their tablets. However, it could also mean that the supremacy of tablet commerce is coming to an end and smartphone users are becoming as comfortable shopping over their devices as their larger screen cousins.

At the same time, in Asia and South America, where 10.8 percent of online transactions are from smartphones and 5.8 percent are from tablet commerce, those larger screen devices are becoming more popular in those markets. The sheer scale of those markets could shift things back to tablets yet again, though the penetration of smartphones does remain well in the lead and if consumers have become comfortable with those devices, it will help to define that sector.

Most consumers haven’t yet warmed to the idea of purchasing over their smartphones and tablets.

Despite the fact that this will likely be the biggest year (by far) for mobile commerce during the holiday season, the latest research is still showing that most consumers are less than enchanted with actually making a purchase through the use of their devices.

The research results were recently revealed by ICM, and were published in Retail Week.

The ICM research showed that 60 percent of all shoppers don’t plan to use mobile commerce at all throughout the length of the holiday shopping season. That said, one third of the respondents to the survey do plan to use their devices in at least some way as a part of the overall shopping process.

At the same time, the survey also showed that the future is looking very bright for mobile commerce.

We may not be there yet, but things are looking very promising in the not too distant future, due to younger consumers. It is that age group that appears to be the most open to purchasing through mobile commerce. In fact, 14 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 34 are expected to conduct a considerable amount of their Christmas shopping using smartphones and tablets.

A number of retailers have already been discussing their predictions regarding mobile commerce over the winter holiday shopping season. According to Andy Street, the managing director of John Lewis, there is already a 40 percent share of site traffic that comes from smartphones and tablets, so they are gearing up for a Christmas season that is heavily mobile. He stated that “Purchasing from desktop is moving to mobile. It is at 40% and growing very rapidly and we expect to see that moving forward again,” and added that “We are preparing for what we anticipate will be the UK’s first ‘mobile Christmas’.”

Home Retail, the parent company of Argos, has also applauded mobile commerce. Last week, it shared its own figures, saying that there has been an increase of 133 percent in sales over smartphones and tablets, and that 17 percent of its total sales in the second quarter were from these devices.