Smartphones Top Tablets As Drivers Of Sales For The First Time
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
The State of Retail Online 2016 report places new focus on tablet investment
For the first time, smartphones have overtaken tablets as the top drivers for retail sales and traffic according to findings from the State of Retail Online 2016 report conducted by Shop.org, Forrester Research Inc. and Bizrate Insights. The report provides an overview of metrics from 2015, details the role of mobile in e-commerce, examines retailers’ key priorities for 2016, and reveals how merchants are investing in their mobile presence.
The report surveyed retailers, who reported smartphones represented 17 percent of total online sales for 2015 and overtaking tablet sales, which comprised 14 percent. Retailers overall also said that sales from smartphone devices increased 53 percent over 2014, while tablet-driven sales rose 32 percent.
As more of the retail market is reliant on tablets as drivers, it opens the door for vendors and suppliers to meet the demands. Mobile platforms need to provide easy and flexible access that customers demand while executing timely and efficient sales for merchants. And tablets are becoming more prevalent on the sales side of the transactions as well, used by sales associates for a wide range of tasks related to customers’ shopping experience.
“Retailers are now recognizing that their customers may not need a bigger, more expansive shopping experience on mobile platforms – they need a consistent, relevant and user-friendly experience that will shape their online and in-store shopping behaviors,” said NRF Senior Vice President and Shop.org Executive Director Vicki Cantrell in a statement. “Even with relatively small investments in their mobile initiatives, retailers are seeing tremendous growth in both sales that come from smartphones and the level of customer engagement from mobile across the brand.”
“Retailers are building their mobile platforms with strong customer engagement strategies in mind, allowing their shoppers to easily ‘click and buy’ or research in-store availability,” Cantrell continued. “For today’s consumer, this is all just a part of modern-day shopping; though for retailers, it’s a constant balance of where and how much to invest into the mobile experience and infrastructure.”
The report found that retailers are maintaining moderate levels of mobile investment, with 30 percent reporting investing less than $10,000 on smartphone platforms in 2015 and 17 percent investing between $10,000 and $50,000. And reported tablet investment levels were even lower, with 37 percent reporting making no additional investment in tablet offerings at all during 2015, compared with 18 percent who did not invest in smartphones.
However, the report found that retailers have plans for mobile investment in 2016. One-third said they plan to increase smartphone investments more than 20 percent this year and an additional 34 percent plan to grow somewhat less than 20 percent. And 1 in 5 plan to grow tablet investment more than 20 percent this year.
And tablets are of growing importance to store associates, as well, providing better customer service and improving the overall customer experience. The report found that 44 percent of those surveyed use tablets to demonstrate additional products not available in stores, while 40 percent use the device to send e-receipts, 23 percent to check inventory in warehouses and 21 percent to check in-store inventory.