Mobile Traffic Boosts Online Retail Sales More Than 10 Percent

By Anna Rose Welch, Editorial & Community Director, Advancing RNA

An IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark report reaffirms the rising importance of m-commerce

According to IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark data, online retail sales increased 10.3 percent year over year. This boost is attributed in part to a rise in the amount of mobile traffic, as customers turn to their handheld screens to browse retailers on the web or through social media channels. In fact, mobile traffic for the quarter rose by 40 percent compared to the same quarter in 2012 and accounted for nearly 35 percent of all online traffic. More often, browsers are becoming buyers, with mobile sales for the quarter reaching 16.6 percent, an increase of 46 percent from the previous year. This latest round of results should only reaffirm for retailers that mobile is steadily becoming an integral cog in a retailer’s e-commerce strategy.

As far as devices are concerned, people prefer browsing via smartphone, perhaps because of the convenience of always having their phones within reach. Smartphones accounted for 21.3 percent of all online traffic, nearly twice the amount of people who turned to their tablets to browse for goods — though tablets still are the device people prefer to purchase from when they’re away from their desktops. Where smartphones accounted for 5 percent of all online sales, tablets came in more than double that at 11.5 percent of all online sales. Tablet users were also willing to spend more, judging from the data that reveals tablet users spent on average $118.09 per order compared to smartphone users’ average of $104.72 per order. Sales via Apple’s iOS mobile platform —  with 22.1 percent of all online traffic and 12.7 percent in online sales — topped Google’s Android platform — with 10.6 percent of all online traffic and 2.6 percent of overall online sales.

The results show that social media is also having an important effect in garnering online sales, with Facebook and Pinterest being the most likely to urge people to open their wallets. Pinterest is becoming a more turned-to channel for retailers looking to draw customers to a wider assortment of their products, and its users spent an average of $109.93 per order from Pinterest referrals. Facebook users spent less per order ($60.48), but were 3.5 times more likely to be converted from browsers to buyers. Part of Facebook’s conversion success could have to do with the fact it is a more established social network.

IBM also reports that holiday sales, especially from Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday helped drive some of this quarters success. Department stores saw the biggest sales gains during the quarter, with online sales up 62.8 percent. Home goods retailers came in second with an increase of 46.4 percent, followed by health and beauty retailers (14.7 percent) and apparel (10.2 percent).

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