IBM Peeks into Mobile Shoppers' Easter Baskets

Withers: “People want to use their phones at the checkout, and for comparative shopping, price comparison, and product research.”Mobile made up 18.9 per cent of total online retail traffic in the week leading up to Easter 2012, according to data from IBM's Coremetrics Benchmark - a 205.7 per cent growth over the same period a year earlier. Mobile also accounted for 15.4 per cent of total sales - a growth of 195.5 per cent. Total online sales only grew 5.6 per cent overall from 2011 – presumably driven primarily by mobile.

Despite its leadership in handset market share, in terms of mCommerce Android remains dwarfed by Apple. The iPhone led mobile devices, with 42.1 per cent of total mobile sessions – a 131.8 per cent growth year-to-year – followed by the iPad, at 36.3 per cent – a 280.4 per cent growth year-on-year. Android, meanwhile, only, accounts for 21.8 per cent. However, at a 306.5 per cent increase on last year, it was the biggest grower.

“Obviously, Apple has a very strong position - there's quite a difference between them and all other devices out there,” Chris Withers, IBM's head of smarter commerce told Mobile Marketing. As for why iOS leads so strongly, Wither says: “The one thing we do know is that people using iPhones and iPads have more disposable income. That's a known trait of Apple consumers, and if you correlate that to demographics, it's probably why you see a stronger retail presence. But as for whether they're better for shopping than Android devices – I wouldn't go that far.”

And what about the others? BlackBerry, Windows Phone, et al? According to Withers, “other operating systems are simply so small they're difficult to measure.”