Retailers must distinguish between smartphones and tablets, says IBM

Mobile and online shopping increased this Boxing Day, according to IBM’s Digital Analytics Benchmark.

The statistics, based on retail sales the day after Christmas, showed an increase of more than 40% compared to Boxing Day in 2012.  

However, IBM said these latest findings show that retailers must distinguish between smartphones and tablets, because they are being used in different ways by consumers.

On Boxing Day, IBM said most traffic to the 200 participating retail websites came from mobile devices, which outstripped PC traffic for the first time. Consumers were using smartphones to browse websites, while tablets were being used to purchase.

According to IBM, shopping via mobile increased by 42% over 2012, to 58% of all online traffic, while sales via mobile devices exceeded 45% of all online sales – an increase of 63% year-on-year.

But tablets drove 29% of online sales, twice that of smartphones, which took up 16%. Additionally, the average order value (AOV) on tablets was £83.55 while AOV on all mobile phones was £78.06.  

"Mobile has rapidly become the dominant channel and now retailers really need to look at the role each device is going to play within the overall customer journey and decision-making process,” said James Lovell, smarter commerce retail solutions consultant, Europe, IBM.

“The key challenge will be how they maximise the effectiveness of these devices to help augment the in-store customer experience as well as the traditional digital only channels,” he said.

The IBM statistics also stated iOS users were more likely to shop and purchase online than Android. iOS traffic generated 42% of all online traffic and 35% of all online sales, while Android generated 15% of all online traffic and 10% of all online sales

The AOV of iOS users was £82.33 per order, compared to £78.93 per order for Android.