Category: Tablet Commerce

Smartphone based shopping habits differ from one country to the next, according to a study across 11 markets.

German affiliate marketing network, Zanox, has conducted a data analysis across the 11 international primarily European markets in which it functions, in order to understand the mobile commerce behaviors of the people who live there.

What it determined was that there is actually quite a difference in the way m-commerce is used.

When looking at these habits from one country to the next, consumers use mobile commerce as a different part of their shopping behaviors. What the study revealed was that the United Kingdom and many of the Nordic countries use this technology the most frequently, while Switzerland records the smallest number of mobile transactions. That said, at the same time, Switzerland produces the highest average order value, particularly when it comes to the online travel industry.

This mobile commerce data was released as a part of the Zanox mobile Performance Barometer bi-annual report.

The markets that were included within this report were the United Kingdom, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Eastern Europe, Benelux, Italy, the Nordic countries, Germany and France.

There were some notable differences that were found to occur from one country or market to the next. For instance, in Spain, there is a traditional summer break that spans from July through September which affected consumer behaviors. During that same span of time, Italy saw a doubling of its transactions when compared to the activity they registered in March.

The periods in which countries traditionally take extended breaks and holidays were also those in which there were the strongest travel bookings made over mobile shopping channels. The increase in mobile sales was comparable in France and Eastern Europe, as they both reached a peak near the end of the year.

That said, throughout all the mobile commerce markets included in this study, there was a notable increase recorded. The boost in growth rates revealed that there has yet to be a maturation of the smartphone based shopping experience and that it continues to steadily develop, said the report that Zanox issued on its findings for the last half year.

A recent eMarketer study has shown that ebook readers are holding their own, but that was before Apple’s changes.

The iOS 9.3 update brought the “Night Shift” feature to iPhones and iPads and comes with the controversial claim that it has reduced the amount of blue light emitted by the mobile devices and may, therefore, help to push the ereader further toward being obsolete.

The reason is that while Apple says its devices may no longer interrupt sleep patterns, ebook readers still might.

The design of the “Night Shift” is meant to decrease the blue light emitted by the device. Those wavelengths of light are often blamed for disturbing people’s ability to sleep, so by removing them, the thought is that it will stop people from harming their sleep cycles through the use of tablets at bedtime. With this in mind, some have predicted that the use of the ereader, a device that is not backlit and that does not emit any blue light, will decline.

Some people have been using an ereader to read ebooks at bedtime in order to avoid wakefulness problems related to tablet use.

Overall, most doctors and sleep specialists recommend that patients stop using any kinds of mobile devices for an hour to 90 minutes before they go to bed. That is meant to decrease exposure to blue light but also to the stimulation these gadgets can bring with their use. Many doctors also recommend that patients use only dim lighting throughout that same span of time in order to help to encourage the production of melatonin (a sleep-promoting hormone that is light sensitive).

For that reason, eink displays from dedicated ereaders have been seen as great ways to take advantage of a certain limited amount of internet connectivity, as well as the comfortable ability to read an ebook, such as a favorite young adult fiction novel or the latest murder mystery in a series you’re enjoying.

So far, eink ereader displays haven’t been connected with sleep struggles and have been very appealing to people who are trying their best to give themselves a restful night of sleep. What has yet to be seen is whether the Night Shift in combination with the iPad mini from Apple will be enough to replace ereaders by providing a full tablet experience without the blue light exposure.