More British shoppers than ever are shunning typical desktop PCs in favour of using their smartphone or tablet, according to new figures.
The latest IMRG Capgemini Quarterly Benchmarking Report has revealed that over half (52%) of visits to retail websites during May to July were made via a mobile phone, while over a third (36%) of UK online sales are now completed on a smartphone or tablet device.
Tablets proved far more popular to actually complete sales, however, accounting for 82% of all sales completed on mobile devices, with smartphones making up the other 18%.
Overall, the total estimated online spend during May to July hit £24.2bn, with £8.7bn spent via smartphones and tablet devices.
The figures represent a 2,000% growth over the past four years, as mobile visits to online retailers accounted for less than 3% of traffic in 2010.
IMRG chief information officer Tina Spooner said: "With over half of all e-retail traffic now coming via smartphones and tablet devices, the latest results reveal a huge landmark in the growth of mobile commerce.
"Considering that as recently as 2010 mobile visits to e-retail sites accounted for less than 3% of traffic, this latest milestone represents staggering growth of 2,000% over the past four years."
Commenting on the figures, John Lewis online director Mark Lewis said, "We called John Lewis’s first ever ‘mobile Christmas’ in 2013 and we have continued to see customers shop via this channel during the first half of this year. Today, over half of the traffic to johnlewis.com comes from mobile and tablet devices and we’ve also seen an increase in the conversion rate of traffic to sales.
"We’ve placed a significant focus on developing our mobile strategy and have more enhancements planned for our app later this year. Customers want to be able to shop seamlessly across all channels and mobile is now the go-to choice alongside visiting our shops."
