Mobile commerce rocketing
The mobile web is beating retail apps for online shopping in the US, according to new stats from Nielsen. The report finds that, in December, 51% of those polled used the mobile web for shopping, compared to 28% completing purchases through the top five specialised retail apps for Amazon, Best Buy, eBay, Target and Wal-Mart. Nielsen suggests that the results for the mobile web were skewed by Amazon, which accounted for a one-off peak on Black Friday, when nearly 20% of those polled accessed its website. Despite this, the report points toward the growing demand for mobile shopping options as mobile device ownership continues to rocket.
“The majority of smartphone owners used their devices for shopping this past holiday season,” says Nielsen’s president of strategic initiatives, John Burbank. “Mobile shopping has reached scale and is only going to grow as smartphone penetration continues to rise.”
Combining the mobile web and apps, the top five retail sites reached some 60% of US smartphone users in December, indicating that retailers should increasingly adopt a multi-channel distribution approach to target consumers. “Retailers need to think of their business as a multi-channel environment that can potentially include mobile, online and bricks and mortar stores,” says Burbank.
The report chimes with forecasts that mobile shopping will be worth USD15bn this year, boosted by growing mobile device ownership.
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