Chuck Martin
Mobile is finally beating the desktop for shopping at retailer websites.
We’ve seen this coming for some time in a monthly mobile tracking study we’ve been following for some time.
For the first time, more than half (51%) of visits to retailers’ websites came from mobile devices, according to a new report.
When the tracking started four years ago, desktop accounted for more than 90% of website visits, based on the Branding Brand mobile commerce index, which is based on an analysis of 129 million site visits, 1 billion page views and more than 3 million orders with revenue of $350 million.
It’s not just the mobile visits that continue to increase, with smartphone commerce activity increasing across the board. Here are the increases from the same month a year ago:
89% — Revenue
64% — Orders
49% — Page views
24% — Visits
Of total retailer website visits, smartphones accounted for more than a third (36%) and tablets for 15%. It’s easy to see the pattern of visits, with smartphones increasing 24% and non-mobile visits decreasing 15% since a year ago.
The index identifies retail trends across a sample of 26 major North American brands in industries including apparel, home goods and health and beauty.
Reaching a halfway point or passing that 50% mark is significant for commerce, since it implies a move to the masses, or at least a majority. And the Branding Brand online shopping tracking is not the only indicator of the tipping point nature of mobile.
Here are just a few more 50%-and-over tidbits from recent months, with the source of the stat at the end:
50% of Walgreens shoppers using the app use it in while in the store (National Retail Federation)
50% of Groupon transactions occur on a mobile device (Internet Retailer)
50% of mobile shoppers would provide retailers personal information for a reward (PriceGrabber)
56% of consumers expect more options for obtaining service and support by phone, online and at store locations via mobile devices (Accenture)
53% of Walmart Thanksgiving Web traffic originated from mobile (Venture Beat)
60% of Thanksgiving sales at RueLaLa came from mobile
50% of shoppers check product reviews on their smartphones (IDC)
50% of retailers say mobile represents the growth in their business and are investing accordingly (e-tailing group)
Another almost halfway stat from Gallup is that 49% of consumers have made a mobile purchase.
Mobile commerce is growing, one percentage point at a time.
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.
