Shoppers Using Tablets Spend More than Traditional Website Sales

According to the 2012 Shop.org/Forrester Research Inc. State of Retailing Online survey, 49 percent of retailers say their average order value via a tablet is now higher than traditional web sales. Nearly three in 10 (28%) retailers say they are seeing about the same average order value from tablets as their website.

The State Of Retailing Online research series surveyed 59 companies and found tablet and smartphone sales as a percent of retailers' total web sales in 2011 were 3.2 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.

Shop.org Executive Director Vicki Cantrell said, "Overall, we expect smartphone shopping adoption rates to stay low but fully believe tablet sales will continue to change how retailers garner the attention of new and current customers."

The report said search and email are "still king" for retailers.

• Eight in 10 retailers say search and email are the top two drivers of a company's web traffic from either a smartphone or tablet.
• On average, 20 percent of emails opened in a given campaign are opened on a mobile device.

Additionally, QR codes have become more standard elements of retailers' mobile marketing efforts within their stores and in advertising. Three-quarters (75%) say they now offer customers the 2D technology and other barcode scanning options. For companies with less than $10 million and more than $100 million in annual online sales, QR codes rank as the leading mobile marketing tool in terms of usage. Mid-size retailers rely more heavily on mobile email optimization, with QR codes coming in second.

In terms of marketing, retailers say that, on average, 3.9 percent of their total interactive marketing budgets this year are dedicated to mobile advertising, suggesting a strategy of testing and measuring consumer response.

More information is available in this press release on the NRF website.