One in four e-commerce visits will arrive via tablet and smartphone by end of 2012
A new report has highlighted the rapid growth of tablet and mobile within the retail sector and makes the prediction that one in four e-commerce visits will arrive via tablet and smartphone by the end of 2012.
The Q3 Think Works report by Latitude Digital Marketing has revealed that tablet use soared in the third quarter of 2012, with nearly one in eight (12.6%) clicks on retail PPC adverts arriving via tablet.
Latitude said this was well ahead of the digital industry standard of 8.9%, demonstrating the huge consumer take-up of the tablet device as a growing number of consumers use it to shop online. The study found that tablet use has grown rapidly during the last 12 months with the amount of PPC tablet clicks increasing by 400% year-on-year.
In contrast the study found that mobile click volume growth in the retail sector has slowed down in recent months, with no increase in the share of mobile clicks compared to all paid clicks since May. However, this is expected to change post-Christmas, when new consumers flood the mobile web using new smartphones to access content online.
Never Miss a Retail Update!Despite a slow Q3, smartphone clicks for retail campaigns still grew by 72% year-on-year. While smartphones now account for just under one in ten clicks (9%), Latitude estimates that 27% of all paid search traffic within the retail sector will arrive from tablet and smartphone by end of December 2012. This is despite the expectation that the launch of the 4G network will take a while to gain traction, slowing down the overall growth.
“This Christmas, both mobile and tablet will be incredibly important elements of the overall digital marketing strategy for most retailers”, explained Latitude managing director, Richard Gregory. “We expect mobile alone to directly deliver over 15% of retailers’ online revenue during November and December. This means getting mobile strategy right could mean the difference between a good year and a great year for many retailers, which is vital in tough economic times.”
