Research: Tablet users spend more, convert more than smartphone users

Adobe's research of 16.2 billion visits to 150 online retailers shows that tablet users spend more per order than desktop PC and smartphone users. When shopping with a tablet users spent, on average, $123 per order versus $102 for desktop/laptop users and $80 for smartphone users.

Furthermore, tablet users were nearly three times more likely to purchase than smartphone users with conversion rates of 2.3% versus 0.8% and nearly as likely to make a purchase as desktop/laptop visitors (2.5%).

According to John Mellor, VP of strategy and business development in the Omniture Business Unit at Adobe retailers need to stop treating all mobile users the same and segment out tablet users from smartphone users because of their differences in spending behavior.

Austin Bankhead, director of industry marketing at Adobe concurs. "Retailers should identify these segments and target them directly," he said. "This group is highly responsive to promotions. They aren't just using tablets to browse; they pull the trigger and buy."

A recent shopping survey from online performance optimization and analytics consultancy Logan Tod & Co. found that in the last 18 months tablets have come out of nowhere to rival mobile shopping.

In the online survey conducted in December, 2011, 14% of respondents indicated they had used a tablet device to make a purchase compared to 15% who had used a smartphone.

"Our research demonstrates that tablets are now growing even faster than the mobile commerce market and it is becoming increasingly evident that one of their primary functions is as online shopping tools, meaning retailers must include them in their multichannel plans for 2012 and beyond," said Matthew Tod, Chief Executive at Logan Tod & Co.

Tags: consumer insight, e-commerce, mobile marketing, mobile shopping, multichannel marketing, online shopping, online spend, segmentation, smartphone, tablet