The trick for mobile commerce retailers has been getting consumers to follow through on making purchases through their devices. To this point, consumers have shown more willingness to conduct research on the mobile web than actually make purchases.
However, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report, that may be now changing with the growing popularity of tablets. That's because tablet users are more likely to make purchases than smartphone users, the Journal stated.
"The visuals and graphics are amazing, and I get caught up in impulse buying," Blake McCrossin, a public-relations associate in New York, told the newspaper.
While tablets represent a small portion of online shoppers, their conversion rates are encouraging, experts told the newspaper. Sucharita Mulpuru, an analyst at Forrester Research, said tablet conversion rates have hovered around 5 percent, compared to 3 percent for PC users. Tablet users also generally spend more per purchase, sometimes by as much as 20 percent, Mulpuru said.
Though the market is still maturing, experts agree that mobile commerce is primed to explode in the near future as consumers become more comfortable with their devices. Retailers may want to prepare now by installing robust transaction management practices.