Tablets trump smartphones for e-commerce enjoyment

Friday, February 10, 2012 - 09:17 by Graham Miller

People are beginning to see benefits from using tablet computers, rather than smartphones, for carrying out safe shopping online, according to a survey conducted by Nielsen.

Since the Apple iPad resurrected the tablet market from limbo back in 2010, the UK has become a veritable hotspot for portable computing and now people are turning to a tablet when they want to buy something from an e-commerce site, leaving their smartphones for other tasks.

Almost 1800 were questioned as part of the study and, interestingly, the number of tablet owners actually exceeded the number of smartphone owners by a significant margin.

Ten per cent of people with a tablet computer said that they had harnessed it for safe shopping online, compared to a paltry seven per cent of smartphone owners.

The real purpose of the study was to test the impact of advertising on various mobile platforms and, once again, the tablet comes out on top, with 48 per cent of owners saying that they remember seeing ads on a daily basis via their device. This was asserted by just 37 per cent of smartphone users.

Tablet owners are also more likely to interact with an advert, with a fifth saying they would click a link or banner they like the look of, compared to 17 per cent within the smartphone market.

Analysts say that the larger displays of tablet computers, which are typically between 7 and 10.1 inches across the diagonal, help consumers to enjoy the e-commerce experience and engage with advertising.

Meanwhile, many people are also 'dual screening,' which is the name given by Nielsen to the process of using a tablet while watching television simultaneously. This is encouraging retailers to put QR codes on adverts which can then be snapped using a tablet/smartphone camera, to help consumers find sites for the products and services they see on TV.