America's love affair with buying from online retailers via tablet devices was documented by research out this week from Comscore: 'Mobile commerce in the US grew by 47% in Q2 2014, boosted by increased usage of tablets and bucking a seasonal trend for slower rates of growth during the second quarter.'
Other than the incredible growth rate, a noteworthy point is that the seasonal trend for slower growth rates was bucked. We are observing the same shift and the results from Comscore support our research, which you can read about in this post, 'How Often Do People Purchase On Smartphones And Tablets?'. It is an exciting time to be an online retailer and aligned to this trend there are interesting predictions being made, The Goldman Sachs Group Inc predict:
'Worldwide, mobile commerce sales will account for almost half of total web sales by 2018'.
The shift in purchasing behaviour is staggering and with this in mind, smart retailers will be refining focus on Mobile. From optimizing websites to creating specific ads, retailers should be aware and taking action. Earlier this week, Facebook announced advertisers can now target users by network speed. This means you can serve a video ad to a user with good network speed or a static image to someone with a weak connection. This is yet another way online retailers can tailor ads to individual mobile requirements.
What Can Online Retailers Do?
The results from Comscore, which explain that the seasonal trend has been bucked, imply that Q3/4 are only going to be stronger in terms of mobile commerce performance. Therefore retailers need to start considering the main selling event... Christmas. Savvy retailers should develop a strategy for mobile christmas shopping now and include targeting mobile devices and individuals through social media. Retailers should consider taking advantage of Facebook as an advertising platform, as statistics show that there are 654 million mobile daily active users on average (June 2014). Essentially Mobile needs to considered in every aspect of marketing.
