Online shopping on mobiles overtakes desktop for first time

3 September 2014
The Guardian
Figures show 52% of visits made via a mobile, while 36% of UK online sales are now completed on a smartphone or tablet
Visits to retail websites via mobile devices have overtaken desktop traffic for the first time, figures show.
Some 52% of visits were made via a mobile, while 36% of UK online sales are now completed on a smartphone or tablet device – rising to 40% for clothing sellers, the latest IMRG Capgemini Quarterly Benchmarking Report has revealed.
Of sales completed on a mobile device, smartphones account for around 18% and tablets 82%.
IMRG chief information officer Tina Spooner said: “With over half of all e-retail traffic now coming via smartphones and tablet devices, the latest results reveal a huge landmark in the growth of mobile commerce.
“Considering that as recently as 2010 mobile visits to e-retail sites accounted for less than 3% of traffic, this latest milestone represents staggering growth of 2,000% over the past four years.”
The report also shows that the total estimated online spend during May to July was £24.2bn, with £8.7bn spent via smartphones and tablet devices.
Capgemini digital services leader and vice president Alex Smith-Bingham said: “As retailers further develop their m-commerce platforms and as the technology becomes increasingly more sophisticated, we’ll see the role of the desktop in our day-to-day shopping cycle diminish.
“It will be very interesting to see just how wide the gap between mobile and traditional e-retail will become in 12 months’ time.”
John Lewis online director Mark Lewis said: “We called John Lewis’s first ever ‘mobile Christmas’ in 2013 and we have continued to see customers shop via this channel during the first half of this year. Today, over half of the traffic to johnlewis.com comes from mobile and tablet devices and we’ve also seen an increase in the conversion rate of traffic to sales.
“We’ve placed a significant focus on developing our mobile strategy and have more enhancements planned for our app later this year. Customers want to be able to shop seamlessly across all channels and mobile is now the go-to choice alongside visiting our shops.”