Tablet Use for Online Shopping Growing in Popularity

Tablets and Smartphones are fast becoming the devices of choice for online shopping, with Apple’s iPad and iPhone leading the way.
Use of the traditional desktop and laptop browsers dipped from 92.33 percent in 2011 to 81.60 percent this year as use of Smartphones and tablets more than doubled, e-commerce solutions provider Monetate found. In the third quarter, tablets made up 8.37 percent of all website visits, up from 3.16 percent in 2011, while Smartphones surged to 10.03 percent from 4.51 percent.
“Total shopping sessions in one year from tablets has increased 161 percent while traffic from Smartphones has increased an equally impressive 119 percent,” the report reads. “Understanding the users of these devices is critical to developing relevant customer segments and making website personalization a significant part of your business.”
Monetate, whose findings are based on samples from more than 100 retailers, also discovered the iPad accounted for 88.94 percent of all website visits originating from tablets. Android devices were a distant second at 6.34 percent and the Kindle Fire placed third with 4.71 percent.
When it comes to Smartphones, the iPhone was leader of the pack with 60.85 percent. Android-based phones accounted for 37.59 percent of traffic while Windows Phone made up only 0.91 percent of all visits.
When it comes to conversion rates, tablets were almost neck-and-neck with traditional computing, with 3.12 percent of visits actually turning into a sale. The iPad’s conversion rate was 3.17 percent, compared to 3.19 percent for Android tablets.
Success for retail sites largely depends on how a potential customer interacts, or fails to interact, with the website’s design.
“It’s critical to ensure websites are optimized for mobile traffic,” the report states. “Organize your products into groups or categories to make it easier for Smartphone users to navigate a large catalog. Ensure critical functions (e.g., navigation, site search, checkout) work as well as they do on a desktop website, and that product photos render properly on Smartphones.”
To download the complete report by Monetate, click here.

Post from: SiteProNews

Online Shopping Skyrockets Over Thanksgiving Weekend

Online traffic increased 71 percent this year over 2011 with the top 500 retail sites receiving more than 181 million U.S. visits, according to Internet traffic-watcher Experian.
Retail traffic increased 46 percent on Thanksgiving Day versus the day before, Experian found.
Amazon, Wal-Mart, Target, BestBuy and Sears were the top five sites this year with all sites seeing substantial growth on Thanksgiving Day versus the previous day.
Amazon.com was the No. 1 retail site on Thanksgiving Day with more than 25 million online visits in the U.S. This does not factor in mobile traffic.
Wal-Mart followed close behind with 24.6 million U.S. visits.
Target and Best Buy each had slightly more than 11.4 million visits while Sears jumped to the top five with six million visits after ranking sixth the day before.
Among the top five sites, BestBuy had biggest day-over-day growth with 104 percent. Wal-Mart and Sears had a 92 percent and 90 percent growth respectively. Target enjoyed an 80 percent growth and Amazon only 16 percent.

The online shopping trend continued on Black Friday with a traffic increase of 60 percent over 2011. The top 500 retail sites received more than 179 million total U.S. visits.
“So far this Holiday week of online traffic to the top retail sites is up seven percent on average,” wrote Matt Tatham with the consumer behavior and retail division of Experian in a blog post.  “Online retail traffic was down one percent on Black Friday compared to Thanksgiving Day 2012 traffic this year.”
Amazon.com and Wal-Mart remained the top visited retail sites on Black Friday placing first and second respectively.
BestBuy moved to the third place position while Target placed fourth. JC Penney leaped from being the eighth most visited retail site on Thanksgiving Day to the fifth on Black Friday. Among the top five sites, JC Penney saw the biggest day-over-day growth at 26 percent.
Of the top 20 retail sites on Black Friday, the Apple Store enjoyed the biggest day-over-day growth at 99 percent.