Tablet owners adopt m-commerce faster than smartphone users

Tuesday, May 24, 2011 - 09:46 by Mike Price

A survey from the US has found that people who have bought a tablet computer since the iPad popularised such devices last year are starting to use them for safe shopping online faster and in greater numbers than smartphone owners.

The iPad kicked off the tablet revolution in the spring last year and now there are many manufacturers who want a piece of the pie. A study carried out by eMarketeer has found that before the end of 2011 around 7.6 per cent of the population in the US will own a tablet and that within this group there will be a greater focus on m-commerce than in the smartphone sector.

Thirty-six per cent of smartphone users questioned as part of the study said that they had not used their mobiles to make a single purchase. This compares with just 22 per cent of tablet users. Meanwhile 39 per cent of tablet users said that they had made up to five purchases with their device, above and beyond the 30 per cent of smartphone owners who could claim the same thing.

In general, mobile phones were still used for safe shopping online in the majority for products and services like DVDs and grocery shopping. This does not detract from the surge in tablet-based retail therapy and suggests that if the tablet continues to penetrate the wider market, it will become the shopping tool of choice for consumers around the world.

Perhaps most telling is the fact that respondents identified tablets as allowing for a more satisfactory shopping experience, outpacing mobiles because of their larger displays and fast connectivity. Browsing sites and viewing product images is undoubtedly better suited to tablets, which tend to have displays of equal size to modern netbook computers.