Mobile now accounts for more than 30% of global e-commerce transactions, according to new research from Criteo.
The State of Mobile Commerce Report for the final quarter of 2014 reveals that consumers are increasingly using mobile devices to purchase products, with 53% of mobile retail transactions and 66% of mobile travel transactions coming from smartphones.
Top quartile US retailers generate almost 40% of their e-commerce transactions from mobile, while the bottom quartile see just 5-10%, demonstrating that retailers overlooking mobile are losing sales.
In terms of operating systems, Android phones were found to generate over a third of smartphone transactions, accounting for 39% of retail and 44% of travel purchases in the US. Android smartphone share of e-commerce was higher than Apple’s iPhone in countries including Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil and South Korea.
“There has been a significant lack of information about mobile commerce, leading many marketers to under-estimate the opportunity,” said Jonathan Wolf, chief product officer at Criteo.
“The report demonstrates that mobile is now about purchasing not just researching, and that there are huge opportunities for e-commerce businesses to capture increasing sales via mobile devices, particularly in the retail and travel industries. We expect mobile to rapidly move towards 50% of all transactions, as mobile usage continues to skyrocket and retailers better optimise mobile sites for conversion.”
Wolf added that as consumers become increasingly comfortable with making purchases on mobile, it is “vital” for advertisers to reach them across devices.
“If you’re an e-commerce player and you’re not focusing on allowing mobile audiences to purchase from you, then you may not be in business in a couple of years,” he said.
