Study: Most online shoppers using smartphones, tablets to interact with brands

PITTSBURGH — Online shopping has reached a mobile tipping point, according to Branding Brand's Mobile Commerce Index report. For the first time ever, the majority of consumers are visiting retail websites on smartphones and tablets rather than on traditional desktop and laptop computers, the study suggests.



"In four short years, our data has tracked the rapid rise of the mobile consumer from a small fraction of users in 2010, to this moment where the majority of online retail visitors now originate via smartphones and tablets," stated Chris Mason, Branding Brand co-founder and CEO. "This fundamental shift in consumer behavior from desktop to mobile happened with unprecedented speed and represents the greatest opportunity in retail since the advent of the Internet."



In August 2014, mobile devices generated 51% of all online retail visits, the majority of which occurred on Apple devices. In 2010, only 4% of all online retail visits were mobile.



"Not only is the majority of online visits coming from smartphones and tablets, they are occurring on Apple devices," stated Mason. "This August, we saw 61% of all smartphone visits and 81% of all tablet visits occur on iOS devices. Based on past adoption trends of Apple's newly-released operating systems, you can fully expect the majority of holiday traffic to come from users running iOS 8, and it hasn't even launched yet."



Issued monthly, the Mobile Commerce Index identifies retail trends across a consistent sample of 26 major North American brands in various industries, including apparel, health and beauty, and home goods. The Index is the largest collection of data on commerce websites specifically designed for iPhone, Android, and other mobile devices.