Mobile Accounts For Third Of Online Orders

Smartphones now account for 34 percent of digital commerce shopping traffic and 16 percent of all orders, according to a report by online-commerce technology vendor Demandware.

That’s up from 23 percent of traffic and 10 percent of orders from smartphones a year ago, the Demandware Shopping Index report said. At the same time, tablets climbed to 14 percent of traffic and 17 percent of orders. That means mobile’s total share of digital commerce traffic is 48 percent — almost half — and 33 percent of orders.

Desktop computer-based eCommerce slipped to 52 percent of all digital commerce traffic and 67 percent of orders. But that statistic isn’t as simple as it appears, because 21 percent of multi-visit shoppers used multiple devices. The favorite device pair for online shoppers? Computer and smartphone, which overtook last year’s preference of computer and tablet.

The Demandware report is based on digital commerce activity on 1,100 global retail sites during the last calendar quarters of 2014 and 2013.

Demandware’s statistics also show a 12 percent rise in visits per shopper year-over-year, a 13 percent increase in the rate at which shoppers add products to their online shopping carts, and a 7.5 percent growth in orders per shopper. But the overall conversion rate was down 4.4 percent in Q4 2014 from the year-ago quarter.

As the number of digital shopping runs rose, the duration of those visits shrank. The average time per visit for all online shopping dropped 22 percent to 10.2 minutes. On smartphones, shopping-trip time fell 37 percent to 9.6 minutes.

The average order was $126, with an average discount of 15 percent — a slightly higher average discount from the year before — and 43 percent of all orders included a merchandise discount. In addition, more than twice as many orders get free shipping than get paid shipping, with 69 percent of orders shipped free in Q4 2014, up from 65 percent in Q4 2013.

And while iPhones and iPads have historically captured the lion’s share of digital commerce activity (and still do), Android devices now drive 30 percent of traffic on phones and tablets, and 21 percent of orders on mobile devices, Demandware found.