There’s no doubt that in the last years mobile devices have become the most successful technological products. If in the past we used to see mobile phones only in movies, and their size weren’t really reduced. Nowadays we can not imagine our lives without our mobile phones or tablets.
We use them for whichever thing, including purchasing stuff online. In the last years, shopping online using mobile devices has become an increasing trend, proving this way that there is an enormous market to be covered and brands should be aware of this and adapt to users’ needs.
79% of smartphone users use their mobile phones to shop online, and 74% will then make a purchase. However, less than 5% of global companies currently have an official and centralized internal competency center for mobile.
According to Netbiscuits‘ research, smartphones and tablets represent over half of the IT industry’s growth in 2013 and 31% of mobile internet users mostly go online using their mobile phones.
According to the IBM Online Retail Index, in Q2 2013 consumer online spending was up 15% over the second quarter of 2012, with mobile shopping accounting for nearly 20% of overall online sales – urging retailers to start to prepare for how mobile shopping might impact the holiday season.
At 20% of overall online sales, mobile spending rose 28% during the quarter, according to IBM. Led by big gains in health and beauty and home goods, mobile continued to dominate. In comparison, physical store sales rose 4.6% in the second quarter, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau report.
Jay Henderson, global strategy program director for IBM Smarter Commerce, said retailers need to do a better job and provide better experience for consumers on mobile devices, and many are working to do so – providing things like store maps and guest Wi Fi programs for in-store shoppers and optimizing for mobile phones and tablets for users at home doing ‘couch commerce’ on these devices.
As online retailers continue to invest in mobile technology and adapt their virtual stores’ websites for mobile customers, online spending continues to advance. Retailers are looking to take a MobileFirst approach to customer shopping. Clients are using their mobile devices to research products both at home and in the store. The number of consumers using a mobile device to visit a retailer’s site reached nearly 27%, which is more than 35% year over year.
Apple continues to monopolize the mobile device experience, with the iPad generating more traffic than any other mobile device with close to 11% of retail traffic, which represents a 60% increase over Q2 2012. The iPhone closely follows, generating 10.5% of traffic, with Android devices generating 7.1%.
Here’s an infographic that shows mobile users’ statistics which reveal that most consumers access online stores’ websites and other e-commerces using their mobile phones:
Image source: Netbiscuits