Year-on-year figures show that paid search spend on tablets has increased by 163% compared to 87% on smartphones, while clicks have increased by 135% and 29% respectively.
The report also found that CPCs have increased by 45% on smartphones, while tablet CPCs have increased by a relatively low 12%. On tablets search ad impressions increased 212% while on smartphones the increase was 20%.
46% of Christmas Day search traffic was on tablets and mobiles
According to figures from Adobe’s retail customers, nearly half of the traffic (46%) they experienced on Christmas Day came from mobile devices.
Interestingly, traffic via mobile on the 25th actually exceeded that of an average shopping day in December. If you take December 1st as a comparison, retailers saw 44% more traffic from tablets and 25% more traffic from smartphones on Christmas Day.
Comparing Christmas Eve to Christmas Day retailers saw a 40% increase in tablet traffic, and a 14% increase from a smartphone.
Smartphone owners more likely to read emails than make calls
The 2013 Digital Publishing Report, which surveyed 1,003 18-54 year olds, found that 79% of smartphone owners use their device for email compared to 78% who use it for making phone calls.
Facebook is the third most popular smartphone activity (58%), followed by listening to music (52%) and playing games (48%).
Interestingly, just one in five respondents (20%) said they use their device for shopping, however this rises to 44% on tablet.
24% of UK consumers used mobile for Christmas shopping
It revealed that 11% of UK respondents used a smartphone and 13% used a tablet, compared to 77% who shopped using a desktop.
US shoppers exhibited largely similar shopping behaviours, though overall were 4% more likely to use a smartphone or tablet for their Christmas shopping.
According to a new report from Kenshoo, the rise was partly fuelled by a 27% increase in ad budgets compared to 2011.
There were predictable spikes in search spend at the beginning of December as retailers tried to cash in on the consumer rush to buy gifts in time for Christmas.
The report also reveals that paid search impressions increased by 18% during the Christmas period, likely indicating that consumers are using search engines more frequently, however shoppers clicked on 2% fewer ads.
40% of shoppers used reserve and collect over Christmas
There is a massive difference between the US and UK in take up of ‘reserve and collect’ services. While popular with Brits (40% used them over Christmas), take up in the US is much lower, at 17%.
The good news from the survey is that 87% of consumers received their orders when promised, as 59% say they would abandon a retailer which failed to meet its delivery promises.
Tablets account for 18% of UK paid search clicks
Tablets accounted for almost one fifth (18%) of UK paid search clicks for retailers in 2012 compared to 13% on smartphone, according to a new report from Kenshoo.
Tablets also delivered 18.3% of conversions and 21.3% of revenue, while smartphones achieved just 3.6% of overall retail conversions from PPC and 3.4% of revenue.
Similarly, the conversion rate from smartphone visits is just 1.59% compared to 5.85% on tablet and 6.53% on desktop.
November proved to be the peak month for internet sales, with online retail surging by 15% and the National Australia Bank Online Sales Index rising to 241 points, up 32 points from October.
The National Australia Bank Retail Sales Index showed that when compared with last year, online sales were up 27%.
While this is only a small increase on the annual growth of 26% that was seen in October, it is significantly higher than the 20% experienced in November 2011.
£87 billion to be spent online in 2013
Online retail sales exceeded expectations in December, with the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index recording 17.5% year-on-year growth. This represents month-on-month growth of 12% on November 2012. Consumers spent an estimated £78bn at online retail stores in 2012.
IMRG and Capgemini are forecasting that the online retail market will grow by 12% in 2013, with consumers spending £87bn online.
It was a very strong finish to the year for the online retail sector, with the Index recording growth of 14% for 2012 as a whole.
Sales through mobile devices (including tablets) were particularly strong in 2012, with total sales up 304% on 2011.
Lars is the owner of Copenhagen INK and is an experienced and passionate marketer with a proven track record of driving business impact through innovative commercial marketing initiatives.
