Mobile purchases reach $20.7-B mark

MANILA, Philippines - Mobile purchasing, or the use of mobile technology to acquire items, has reached approximately $20.7 billion, according to Javelin Strategy and Research. And what was revealing was that $5-billion worth of mobile purchases were made through tablets last year.

With holiday shopping just around the corner and other driving forces, the number of people owning tablets is expected to more than double within the next three years.

This dramatic adoption will lead to an explosion in retail purchasing using tablet devices.

The increase in purchasing further solidifies mobile as the channel to watch. Javelin found striking differences between mobile phone purchases.

Consumers spend an average of $10 more per purchase using a tablet compared to the average purchase made through a mobile device. Even within the tablet world, there are noticeable differences between amount, type, and frequency of purchases made by Kindle Fire and Apple iPad owners.

“With large-screen real estate and mobile capabilities, tablets are the ideal channel to transform PC-based online shoppers into mobile shoppers,” said Mary Monahan, executive vice president and research director, Mobile at Javelin. “Increasingly mobile devices like tablets are being used as shopping tools but the mobile buying experience is not keeping pace with consumer activity. Apps engage consumers to make purchases. With the upcoming holidays, retailers must prepare for the mobile shopping trend or lose out on the opportunity to convert browsers into buyers.”