The rapid adoption of tablets and smartphones has not been matched with equal intensity by the number of digital sales transactions occurring on those devices, but that divide is beginning to close.
In the first half of 2013, m-commerce transactions totaled $10.6 billion in sales, which represents close to 10% of the total digital commerce pie, according to new data from comScore. Additionally,one out of every three visitors to a retail site accessed it through a mobile platform.
Although the jury is still out on which device yields the greatest return – conversionwise – along the path to purchase, there are differences in the number of transactions. Desktop accounted for 90.4% of total digital commerce transactions; smartphones delivered 6%; and tablets, 3.5%.
(x-axis = calendar quarter, y-axis = billions)
Despite the fact that tablet owners spend 20% more when they do buy, or $9.70 more per user per transaction on a tablet, there are two times more smartphone owners than tablet owners.
With the holiday season right around the corner, comScore estimates seasonal surges could put m-commerce transactions on target to hit $25 billion by the end of the year. Some of the product categories that are performing particularly strong on mobile device transactions include apparel and accessories, computer hardware, event tickets and video games, consoles and accessories.
