A study commissioned by Peerius, an e-commerce personalisation provider, has shown that retailers and consumers are holding contrasting opinions on social and mobile online shopping experiences.
The study by YouGov discovered that 75% of retailers expect 40% of their sales to come from mobile devices in the next two years, while 50% predict that mobile devices will be used for 50% or more of total online purchases.
However, only 13% of consumers predicted that 40% of their online shopping would be from a smartphone (23% tablet devices). A mere 9% expected to use smartphones for at least half of their online purchases (17% tablet devices).
The study’s findings show that retailers are overestimating the growth of consumer spending through mobile channels by over 100%.
Roger Doddy, director at Peerius, said: "Given the huge growth in smartphone and tablet sales, it would be wrong to suggest the mobile channel is not important. However, it is clear from these findings that retailers do not need to rush out mobile and tablet offerings."
The study also found that consumers lack an interest in social e-commerce, but prefer to experience a social aspect when shopping in stores. On average, it was found that 50% of consumers value in-store social interaction, with only 18% of consumers valuing the same social experience when shopping online.