By Chuck Martin
Smartphone action at retailer websites is on the verge of taking over.
The latest tracking index shows a steep rise in smartphone shopping activity at retail sites across the board.
The magnitude of the growth compared to the same month a year ago is what caught my eye in the index by Branding Brand. The market share of smartphone orders increased 76% from a year ago and the market share of smartphone revenue increased 94%.
Visits to retailer websites by smartphones increased 101%, orders were up 130% and revenue increased 168%, according to the index. Compared to March a year ago, smartphone activity increased significantly:
20 million smartphone visits (10 million last year)
136 million smartphone orders (59 million last year)
$15 million smartphone revenue ($6 million last year)
Branding Brand customers include major retailers such as American Eagle Outfitters, Crate & Barrel, Ralph Lauren and Sephora. The monthly index comprises a sample of 18 retailers across various industries including apparel, health and beauty and home goods. Those analyzed have smartphone optimized websites.
While not encompassing the entire retail marketplace, the index is based on 117 million website visits, 806 million page views, almost 2 million orders and $252 million in revenue. It is yet one more potential indicator of market direction.
The trend of mobile over non-mobile retail website visits has been consistent since 2010, with desktop share decreasing and mobile increasing.
For example, in 2010 desktop dominated with more than 90% of total visits. Today, smartphone and tablet visits accounts for almost half (48%) compared to non-mobile visits (52%).
Consistent with other studies, Apple has a larger share (63%) of retailer website visits compared to those from Android devices (36%). For smartphone revenue, Apple also leads (67%) Android (33%).
Whether or not most retailers are ready for smartphone shoppers, they’re coming.
Chuck Martin is Editor of the mCommerce Daily at MediaPost and writes the daily MobileShopTalk column. He is the author of “Mobile Influence,” “The Third Screen,” and “The Smartphone Handbook.” He is CEO of Mobile Future Institute. Chuck Martin is a frequent Mobile Keynote Speaker and Mobile Marketing Speaker internationally. He also addresses Social Media in Mobile.
