Forty five per cent of online sales were made via smartphones and tablets in the third quarter of 2015, new IMRG figures suggest.
The latest IMRG Capgemini Quarterly Benchmarking Index found a rise in the proportion of sales made through mobile devices, which it puts down to a boost delivered by the launch of the iPhone 6. M-commerce stood at 42% of sales for the previus two quarters.
While m-commerce sales are still under half of all sales, they account for well over half of traffic. Visits to retail websites on mobile devices reached 63% in the same period, between August and October, and were up from 60% in the second quarter of this year.
But while traffic and conversion rates from mobiles are growing, they also see the highest bounce rates – at 35.4% for smartphones – and checkout abandonment rates, which are 52% higher than for desktop and laptops.
Multichannel shopping is also gaining, with orders placed online for in-store collection reaching their highest share of online orders yet – at 23% in the third quarter of 2015, and up from 18% at the same time last year.
Tina Spooner, IMRG chief information officer, said: “With almost two-thirds of traffic to retail websites now coming via mobile devices, it is clear that smartphones and tablets are now the preferred choice for the majority of online shoppers. The launch of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus appears to have had a positive impact on m-retail penetration, with 45% of online sales now coming via mobile devices during the third quarter, up from 37% during the same period last year. Significantly, a tipping point was reached for apparel retailers, with smartphones and tablets now accounting for half of all ecommerce sales.”
Alex Smith-Bingham, head of digital, consumer products and retail at Capgemini , said: “Thanks to the advanced functionality of today’s smartphones, m-commerce has come a long way in a relatively short amount of time. Utilising the available technology retailers are able to create a more intuitive, frequent and convenient experience than on a PC, so it’s no surprise more customers are choosing to make purchases on their smartphones.”
