The Future of M-commerce = The Tablet

As I mentioned in my last post introducing our 2nd Annual Holiday Online Shopping Experience Survey, we are doing a series of more detailed blogs on some of the study’s major themes.

First up: tablets.

When we received the initial results, one of the very first things that popped out at us was how many tablet owners bought products with their devices this year. Not just researched with, but actually purchased.

While most people still don’t own a tablet (16.8% of the survey respondents), nearly half of those who do made a purchase with their device at some point during the holiday shopping season:

Further, 60% of tablets owners expect to make a purchase in the next year with the device, with 23% saying they’ll do so in just the next three months.

Considering just how new the tablet is in the history of computing, it’s astounding to see numbers like these, indicating that the future of m-commerce is clearly in the tablet. And we are not the only ones to draw this conclusion; leading e-commerce industry analysts have also made similar statements.

Steve Jobs was on to something, wasn’t he?

To be fair, the tablet still has a long road ahead: Only 1.1% of respondents said tablets were the main way they researched products this season and only 1.2% said tablets were their primary purchase path – retail websites led in both respects. And overall, respondents graded the tablet a B- this season on the shopping experience. They also gave them a B- on features like personalization, which has proven to be one of the key drivers behind positive consumer experiences on retail websites. If retailers want to capitalize on the tablet revolution, they’ll need to make significant steps in optimizing the user experience, including looking to what’s worked well on the PC.

Interested in learning more? Be sure to read our study for even more findings on the tablet and numerous other topics related to the online shopping experience over the recent holiday.