After analyzing more than 100 million online shopping transactions, E-Commerce strategy site Monetate said that in the first quarter of 2012 smartphones (5.35 percent) were surpassed by tablet traffic to commerce sites for the first time ever. In the last year, tablets’ traffic increased 348 percent while smartphones visits grew by 117%.
The rise of tablets is chipping away at the PC traffic to commerce sites, which dropped to 88%, a 4% loss in just one quarter. If this pace continues, PC traffic will fall below 75% by the end of 2013.
Adobe reported less dramatic numbers, reporting that tablet traffic worldwide will exceed smartphones by early 2013 and represent 10 percent of website traffic in early 2014. The difference may be Monetate’s focus on commerce web sites, which may get more tablet traffic than other sites.
The tablet boom is just beginning and the tablet commerce era is just beginning. All E-Commerce retailers need to start now optimizing their sites and shopping carts for tablet visitors. That might be just better touch and swipe navigation or it may mean some consider tablet-specific sites. But the trend is obviously toward tablet browsing and the trend will accelerate in the coming year.
Here’s a graphic illustrating the dramatic shift in E-Commerce traffic trends and the rise of the Tablet Shopper. All E-Commerce websites need to be aware of this trend and adjust their online marketing strategy accordingly (image courtesy Miva Merchant):
