Tablet users spending up online

Stephen Withers
Friday, 20 January 2012 09:02

Your IT - Mobility

People spend more at e-tail sites when they use a tablet rather than a smartphone or a computer.

Adobe analysed 16.2 billion visits to the websites of over 150 top US retailers during the Christmas shopping season and found visitors using tables spent more per purchase than other devices.

Dollar figures weren't revealed, but according to Adobe officials, tablet visitors spent 54% more than smartphone visitors, and 21% more than desktop/laptop ('PC') visitors.

However, visits by people using PCs were more likely to result in a sale than tablet or smartphone visits. Tablet visitors were only slightly less likely to purchase than PC visitors, but were nearly three times more likely to purchase than smartphone visitors.

This supports the observation that smartphone owners are increasingly accessing retailers' sites to do a price check while in a physical store either for reassurance that they are not about to pay over the odds, or to help negotiate a better deal with a shop assistant.

Adobe's interpretation is that tablet visitors are typically males aged 18-34, and tend to be more affluent than other online shoppers. In addition, tablets are more likely to be used on weekends, when there is more time for online shopping.

"Adobe has long championed the need for retailers to optimise their sites for mobile visitors, and the results of this study indicate that tablet devices have become an absolutely critical new sales channel that marketers must address head-on," said Brad Rencher, senior vice president and general manager of Adobe's digital marketing business.