Modern
tablets have only been on the market for less than two years, but
they have quickly become potent shopping tools that generate an
outsized effect on online commerce. Last year was the year that the
tablet became an online retailer’s best friend as it emerged as the
preferred device for many shoppers to make their purchases.
The latest data came earlier this week from
Adobe Digital Marketing Insights (pdf), which found
that tablet users spend over 50 percent more for each
transaction at an online retailer compared to smartphone users and
20 percent more than traditional computer users. Adobe found that
the average order value for tablet users was $123 on average
per purchase, 54 percent more than smartphone users ($80) and 21
percent more than computer users ($102).
Adobe also found that tablet users were three times more
likely to buy something than smartphone users and nearly as
likely to convert to a purchase as traditional computer users.
Tablet users now make up 4 percent of all total web visits to
retailers, up from 1 percent a year ago. Adobe gathered the data
from 16.2 billion visits to the websites of more than 150
retailers in 2011.
The data is consistent with other findings in the previous
months that indicate just how tablets are able to create a bigger
commerce effect despite its smaller reach. Last year Forrester
reported that
tablets accounted for 20 percent of e-commerce sales, even
though only 9 percent of shoppers own tablets.
A study
by Ipsos OTX MediaCT on behalf of PayPal found that
tablet owners were almost twice as likely to make purchases as
those who only have smartphones. And 28 percent of dual smartphone
and tablet owners said they were sure they spent more due to mobile
shopping, compared with 13 percent of smartphone owners who said
the same.
Some retailers are seeing an even bigger effect from tablets. I
recently wrote about Fab.com, whose CEO, Jason Goldberg, told
me that mobile users are twice as likely to buy products than
computer visitors and that the iPad has purchase amounts that
are an order of magnitude higher than on iPhone, Android and the
web.
Tablet commerce is fueled by the fact that the larger screen on
the devices provides a lot of real estate to see products, and the
touch interface lets consumers get even more intimate in their
shopping than with a PC. Tablets are more portable than laptops, so
they lend themselves to shopping from a couch or a bed, but they
can generate sales on the go as well. The fact that tablets are
still more of an early adopter device also means that users are
more affluent and tech-savvy, so they may be more inclined to spend
and buy online.
The push toward tablet shopping only intensified
this holiday season as consumers cranked up their buying from
mobile devices. IBM reported that sales
from mobile devices doubled this past holiday season, hitting
11 percent of online purchases, compared with 5.5 percent in Dec.
2010. That helped push overall online sales up 7.5 percent over
2010. The iPad had the highest conversion rate for transactions, at
6.3 percent, compared with 3.1 percent for all mobile devices. In
fact, on Christmas day, about
7 percent of all online purchases were made using
iPads.
E-commerce software developer Ability Commerce said last
week that mobile shopping revenues on Android grew by 173
percent compared to last holiday season, while iOS had a 338
percent increase in revenues. The iPad, while generating one-third
the traffic of the iPhone and Android, had 33 percent more revenue
than both iPhone and Android combined.
If it is not apparent to retailers already, the world is turning
mobile. If it is actual sales they are after, they need to think
about how they are serving tablet users. Smartphones are still very
important and often serve as a research tool, helping gather data
that can be used for a later purchase. But increasingly, consumers
are showing that they love shopping on a tablet. This is something
Steve Jobs understood really well more than decade ago when he told
a Wired reporter in 1997 that the benefit of the web
was going to be realized by people interested in selling
things.
“It’s more than publishing. It’s commerce. People are going to
stop going to a lot of stores. And they’re going to buy stuff over
the Web!” he said.
That
vision has crystallized with the iPad. And this is something Amazon
has also clearly picked up on with the Kindle Fire, which is really
just a front end for its online store. It is almost
too easy to purchase something from a Kindle Fire, which
combines the strengths of tablet shopping with Amazon’s one-touch
buying experience. If they haven’t already, retailers need to
understand how to capitalize on this opportunity. As Fab.com’s
Goldberg told me, he has treated the tablet experience on Fab’s
mobile apps much like its smartphone experience.
But there is more to be done to cater to tablet users and fully
build upon that distinct opportunity, which is only going to grow
as tablets proliferate. That means optimizing for tablets and the
iPad specifically and making sure a website works well for tablet
users using touch input. Wal-Mart, for example, put out iPad and
iPhone apps in November that had different capabilities that
catered to the unique use cases for each device, with the iPad app
focused on shopping and browsing while the iPhone app featured
shopping lists, QR code scanning, coupons and a store item
locator.
Last year was a breakout year for tablet shopping, even with the
limited penetration of tablets. But this year is going to be huge,
with a new iPad out soon and the Kindle Fire and Nook Color making
tablets even more affordable on the low end. The question of
whether users prefer to buy on a tablet has been answered. Now it
is just a question of how much business retailers can rake in by
taking advantage of that fact.
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