Tablet owners increase m-commerce usage

19 July 2012 - 11:40

New statistics published by the British Retail Consortium (BRC), suggest that tablet computers are being used to make more retail-related searches than ever before.

Four out of every 10 searches related to safe shopping online, which were made from portable devices, were carried out on tablets, according to the report.

This means that while 60 per cent of us still use our smartphones as the primary gadget for m-commerce, the growth of the tablet market has allowed larger devices to make big gains.

Year on year, tablet-based searches are up by 163 per cent, which means that this is the biggest area for growth when you look at the m-commerce market as a whole.

BRC spokesperson, Stephen Robertson, said that it was worth noting the difference between retail-related searches and actual purchases, because tablet users are tending to compare prices via their devices, before they then shop on the high street.

This trend is largely focused around grocery shopping, with consumers choosing to look up how much their weekly food shop will cost them if they head to one supermarket chain, rather than another.

Mr Robertson pointed out that only four per cent of all money spent on food and drink in the UK is passed on via safe shopping online, which suggests that retailers can do much more to expand in this market.

The report found that people tend to search from mobile phones and tablets more regularly during bank holidays, with most choosing to whip out their preferred device and look for items online, while they are watching the TV.

In total, the number of mobile searches carried out over the last three months grew 113 per cent year on year, with clear signs that tablets could eventually oust smartphones as the m-commerce device of choice.