Tablets account for a third of Boxing Day conversions and revenue from PPC

For anyone involved in E-Commerce this new data from Kenshoo (a search marketing platform used by many UK retailers) comes as no surprise, and highlights the continued customer shift towards mobile devices. Retailers saw their ad revenue double year-on-year with tablets accounting for:

• 35% of spend Vs 50% on desktop
• 37% of conversions Vs 55% on desktop
• 38% of revenue Vs 56% on desktop

The analysis shows that while search advertising on desktop computers still accounts for the biggest share of ad spend, conversions and revenue, marketers are capitalising on the shift towards smartphones and tablets by adjusting their investment towards those devices, with half of their spend on Boxing Day allocated to mobile.

Other findings included a 1,300% increase in spend on Product Listing Ads (PLAs) which now comprise the default ad format for Google Shopping. Retailers saw a 1,190% increase in clicks and 967% increase in impressions from PLAs, proving the format to be powerful and effective.

Major retails such as John Lewis and Schuh have also reported a major surge in mobile traffic over the festive period, with johnlewis.com accounting for 31.8% of the total John Lewis business during this period. On Christmas Day mobile phones and tablets made up three quarters of John Lewis’ total traffic, overtaking that from desktops by a considerable margin. Similarly, footwear retailer Schuh found that 39% of Christmas Day traffic came from smartphones compared to 28% from tablet and 33% from desktop.

Customers are becoming increasingly comfortable with the experience of buying on tablets and with this demand comes the need to develop more mobile friendly websites. When compared to mobile versions, shopping on standard websites with smartphones and tablets doesn’t convert as successfully, largely due to usability issues. You need a mobile site that offers a good user experience and seamless transactions.

The mobile version of an online store isn’t so much a scale-down as it is a simplification. In fact, users should still be able to perform all the same tasks as on the full store — the difference being that key elements are more prominent.

Full stats at E-Consultancy.com