M-Commerce: Tablets Over Phones for Purchases

Mobile

May 13, 2013 -- According to Forrester Research, approximately one-third of U.S. tablet owners have purchased items via their devices, compared to just 13% of mobile phone users.

Forrester notes that this is due to tablets’ larger screens, which make them more friendly to online shopping and buying.

M-COMMERCE SALES TO DOUBLE OVER NEXT 3 YEARS

Forrester predicts that mobile commerce (smartphone only, tablet-based transactions not included) will more than double from $12 billion in 2013 to $27 billion by 2016. With this said, mobile will remain a single-digit portion of total U.S. ecommerce sales, rising from 5% to 8% in the next three years.

TYPES OF MOBILE PURCHASES

The types of purchases made via mobile, are similar on smartphones and tablets – consumers shop for apparel, airline tickets and hotel stays. E-books are the most popular retail category on tablets -- 43% of tablet owners have bought at least one e-book in the last three months.

MOBILE SITES V. APPS

Forrester states that consumers tend to shop through retailer’s mobile websites than apps. But when it comes to online-only retailers, apps are favored over mobile sites (36% v. 31%) by shoppers.

SHOPPERS’ DEMOGRAPHICS

Mobile shoppers (smartphones or tablets) tend to be young, male and affluent. Two out of three have a full-time job, 40% earn more than $100,000 per year, their average age is 36, and one-third have children living at home.

WHY M-COMMERCE ISN’T GROWING FASTER

Forrester finds the top reasons retail spending isn’t growing faster on smartphones:

• Non-optimized mobile sites
• Concerns about mobile payments
• Spotty network connections.

MOBILE CONVERSION RATES

The average rate for mobile sites is 1%, compared to 2% to 3% on a PC.


Source: Online Media Daily, Tablets More M-Commerce-Friendly Than Phones, May 13, 2013.