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RAPAPORT... The 2013 Social & Mobile Commerce Report, produced by comScore Inc., The Partnering Group and Shop.org, revealed that 55 percent of consumers' ''retail-related Internet time'' was spent on tablets and smartphones compared with 45 percent interacting on a desktop computer. Smartphone Internet usage alone has surged to 44 percent of total retail minutes online compared with only 17 percent of total minutes in June 2010. The data was shared during Shop.org's annual summit in Chicago this week to alert retailers to this important trend ahead of the all-important Christmas sales season.
Retail ecommerce that was generated through a mobile device rose 24 percent year on year to $4.7 billion in the second quarter of 2013, the most recent reporting period, according to comScore. 
"Since U.S. consumers now spend more than half of their time on retailers’ websites using their smartphones and tablets, mobile can’t be viewed simply as an ancillary device or action, it now epitomizes how consumers think and act when they interact with retailers,” said Shop.org's executive director, Vicki Cantrell. “Retailers have to continue to invest to make sure they get their mobile offerings right, or will increasingly risk alienating customers and leaving significant money on the table."
The report found that 57 percent of shoppers used their mobile devices inside a store to access that retailer's website or app. Fifty-nine percent of these shoppers checked online for a discount and 92 percent checked whether or not a better price was offered online. Smartphone owners also used their devices inside the store to take a picture of a product (23 percent), text or call family or friends about that product (17 percent) and send a picture of a product to family and friends (17 percent). Forty-three percent consulted another store online, primarily to view price differences.
Other data revealed that 35 percent of smartphone shoppers used their device to locate a store and 24 percent powered up to hunt for coupons and deals, while 19 percent shopped for product availability. Still, when it came to making the actual online purchase, 69 percent were made from a desktop, 34 percent from tablets and 21 percent from smartphones. Shoppers spent an average of $97 per transaction using smartphones compared with $76 on tablets.
“Retailers have an immediate opportunity to proactively encourage shoppers to use in-store Wi-Fi and engage with the retailer’s mobile-enabled websites and apps,” said Peter Leech, the managing director of The Partnering Group. “It’s a big opportunity to capture those eyeballs before they seek an alternate source of product detail and pricing information on another retailer’s mobile offering.”
Lynée Alves, the director of retail solutions at comScore, said, “Mobile is having a profound effect on how people engage with the retail experience today. Not only are consumers using their mobile devices to engage more with retail sites and apps, they are also beginning to transact on these devices in a meaningful way. The m-commerce revolution is building momentum and retailers must adapt to this new landscape if they are to succeed in this emerging channel.”
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