Forrester: Tablets generate 21% of mobile traffic to retailer sites

More consumers prefer shopping on their tablet over their smartphone, according to a new survey conducted by Forrester Research. Nine percent of all online shoppers now own a tablet, and close to half report using the device to make an online purchase, Forrester notes--more than half of respondents who own both a tablet and a smartphone indicate they prefer to shop via tablet, and while the number of smartphones far surpasses the number of tablets, retailers report that tablets now generate 21 percent of their mobile traffic.

Forrester credits the growth of tablet-based e-commerce to the larger screen size and the possibilities for richer content interaction inherent in features like page flipping, horizontal scrolling and audio recognition. The firm also credits the portability of tablets, stating that the living room is the most common room for tablet usage but also citing significant activity in destinations like airports and restaurants.

Despite consumer enthusiasm for tablet-based shopping, retailers have been slow to keep pace. On average, retailers have invested just $14,000 to roll out commerce tools optimized for the tablet format, Forrester reports.

For more:
- read this Forrester blog entry

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