More than $700bn (£426bn) will be spent on mobile handsets and tablets in 2018, Juniper Research’s latest forecast has predicted.
The analyst firm said global annual retail payments would reach $707bn by 2018, representing 30% of all eRetail for that year, compared with annual retail payments of $182bn last year, which accounted for 15% of eRetail.
The report said the scale of purchases across smartphones and tablets are increasing as leading retailers ever more develop strategies to facilitate payments and product discovery as well as keeping hold of customers.
Juniper said users with both devices tended to browse more on their mobile but complete purchases on their tablet, finding that global retail spend on tablets per month had eclipsed that on handsets by the end of 2013.
The report also found consumers to be examining products in store while simultaneously browsing their mobiles online to compare prices.
Windsor Holden, author of the report, said retailers ought to deploy tablets equipped with mobile Point of Sale (mPOS) capabilities as well as introducing a price match option.
"This means that not only is the retailer proactively offering the consumer the opportunity to price check in-store, but that the purchase can be made immediately, without having to queue elsewhere in the store."
