Tablets are more than 10% of eCommerce web traffic & better at converting

Smartphones and tablets both are known to be strong influencers of eCommerce--as traffic drivers, research & brand discovery tools and for conversion.

According to a quarterly e-commerce report from Monetate, tablets and iPad drove 10.6% of ecommerce website traffic in Q1 of 2013. Also tablets convert better than desktops and mobile.

Traffic to eCommerce websites from tablets are up from 8.9% Q4 of 2012 to 10.6% in Q1 of 2013--a gain of more than 2%. Although mobile traffic also referrers nearly 10% of eCommerce traffic to websites, it did not gain at the same rate from the end of 2012 to the beginning of 2013.

The report also examined the social impact on eCommerce, including sharing and social network referrals to eCommerce websites.

The challenge of social media with eCommerce
The report also provides a useful perspective of social media on eCommerce. The effect of social media on eCommerce website direct traffic is low--1.55% of all traffic, and a conversion rate of less than three-quarters of one percent (.71%). But it's effect is still important if executed well. The report describes it as a "unicorn effect" in terms of last-touch attribution. Some visits from native apps or traffic to HTTPS websites could also be camouflaged as having no referrer. One possible conclusion is that social media is often "over-hyped and disproportionately resourced" for eCommerce websites. That does not imply that social media does not play a significant role in eCommerce. Social media can play a crucial role in customer relations and the customer research process.

SOURCE: Ecommerce Quarterly (EQ) by Monetate

About the report:

EQ Takeaways, ideas and best practices used by leading ecommerce websites, based on insights gained from the more than 500 million online shopping sessions that contribute to the analysis and benchmark reports found in every release of the EQ.