ebook Tablet Commerce: Ecommerce King in 2013
Growth in Tablet Commerce Tablet commerce has increased substantially over the past year. During the 2011 holiday shopping season, tablet sales rose to record highs. With the 2012 holiday shopping season right around the corner, having a tablet optimized website is crucial. With the introduction of more tablets that can compete with the still popular Apple ipad, these numbers are expected only to increase, which is why tablet commerce will be king in 2013. Throughout this ebook we will refer to mobile, tablet and smartphone. When we refer to mobile, we are referring to the combined group of tablet and smartphone. Did You Know During the 2011 holiday shopping season, 21% of retail traffic came from tablets only a mere 18 months after tablets were introduced! 1 Less than a third of the top 100 retailers have a tablet optimized website. 1 By early 2013, tablet visits will surpass smartphone visits and generate over 10% of all website visits. 1 2012 Acumium LLC All Rights Reserved P a g e 2
Why Tablet Optimization Is Important A recent study by Google found that 67% of online shopping is completed using more than one device (TV, PC, laptop, tablet, smartphone), with tablets as the most common starting point. 3 However, the user experience changes dramatically when switching between devices. Most people use smartphones on a 3G network connection. This is also often true of tablets, but comparatively, tablets are more likely to be used with a Wi-Fi connection. The user experience degrades significantly for those who have to wait longer than a few seconds for a page to load. Poor user experience leads to more abandoned carts and decreased conversion rates, which is lost revenue for online retailers. 67% of online shopping is done between devices. Tablet is the most common starting point. 2012 Acumium LLC All Rights Reserved P a g e 3
Increasing Tablet Website Traffic 100% Website Traffic by Device 95% 90% 85% Smartphone Tablet Traditional 80% 75% Q2 2011 Q3 2011 Q4 2011 Q1 2012 Q2 2012 Source: Monetate 2 From Q2 2011 to Q2 2012, traditional website traffic dropped 11%, whereas tablet traffic increased 69% and smartphone traffic increased 52%. 2 As the price of tablets decreases and more people buy them, we should see this trend continue and the importance of tablets continue to grow. 2012 Acumium LLC All Rights Reserved P a g e 4
Increasing Tablet Conversion Rates 3.5% Conversion Rates Across Devices 3.0% 2.5% 2.0% 1.5% 1.0% Traditional Tablet Smartphone 0.5% 0.0% Q2 2011 Q3 2011 Q4 2011 Q1 2012 Q2 2012 Source: Monetate 2 Conversions on tablets are more than 2.5 times higher than smartphones, but continue to lag behind desktop and laptop devices by over 5%. 2 Retailers who are not seeing their tablet conversion rates equal to their traditional conversion rates are likely missing an increasingly important opportunity. 2012 Acumium LLC All Rights Reserved P a g e 5
Increasing Tablet Average Order Value $140.00 Average Order Value (AOV) $120.00 $100.00 $80.00 $60.00 Traditional Tablet Smartphone $40.00 $20.00 $- Q3 2011 Q4 2011 Q1 2012 Q2 2012 Source: Monetate 2 Average order value (AOV) of tablets and smartphones has surpassed AOV of traditional traffic. Smartphone AOV remains the highest of the three over the four quarters shown in this graph. 2 Over the four quarters shown in this graph, tablet AOV has steadily increased in relation to AOV from traditional sources. 2012 Acumium LLC All Rights Reserved P a g e 6
ipad Still Controls the Market Tablet Market Share by Brand 100.00% 1.54% 5.11% 95.00% 90.00% 98.46% 6.58% Kindle Fire Android ipad 85.00% 88.31% Source: Monetate 2 80.00% Q2 2011 Q2 2012 Apple s ipad continues to hold a majority share of the tablet market. However, the release of the Kindle Fire and other Android based tablets has pulled market share from Apple as seen in the graph. With Google s release of the Android-based Nexus 7 in Q3 2012 and Apple s plans to release a supposed 7-inch ipad Mini in Q4 2012, it will be crucial to keep a close eye on how the market share shifts in order to better design for the devices being used. 2012 Acumium LLC All Rights Reserved P a g e 7
Common Tablet Screen Sizes & Resolutions Tablet Screen Size Resolution Amazon Kindle Fire 7 1024 x 600 Apple ipad & ipad 2 9.7 1024 x 768 Apple ipad3 9.7 2048 x 1536 Google Nexus 7 7 1280 x 800 Motorola Xoom 10.1 1280 x 800 Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 1024 x 600 Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 7.7 1280 x 800 Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 10.1 1280 x 800 7 10 Nexus 7 Galaxy Tab Kindle Fire ipad Galaxy Tab Motorola Xoom 2012 Acumium LLC All Rights Reserved P a g e 8
Before You Start Any Design, Analyze! Data is imperative when you decide to optimize your website for tablet because you need to understand how people are currently using your site. How many visitors are using tablets? Are they using a 7-inch or 10-inch tablet? What browser is used by most of your visitors and how is this trend changing? Use the answers to these questions to help determine how to best design your site. Tablet size and screen resolution are key considerations and will have a large impact on your design and the end result user experience, which feeds into your conversion rates. Understand where your customers are spending the most time on your site. This will help you determine what areas of your site are most important to optimize. Low traffic pages or areas of your site may be eliminated on the tablet site in order to reduce clutter and confusion. 2012 Acumium LLC All Rights Reserved P a g e 9
What is Important to Mobile Purchasers? 60.0% Importance When Buying on Mobile 50.0% 52.4% 51.8% 50.0% 47.0% 45.1% 41.8% 40.0% 30.0% 20.0% 10.0% 0.0% Price of an item Security of the site/app Type of item being purchased Form of payment (credit/debit/other account) Reputation of the site/app How easy the site/app is to use This study done in August 2012 of 328 smartphone and tablet users 4 reveals what is important to users when making a purchase on a mobile device. While user experience wasn t ranked the top item, it still ranks as a major factor in the mobile buying process. 2012 Acumium LLC All Rights Reserved P a g e 10
Solutions that Optimize for Tablet There are two primary ways you can optimize your website experience for use on tablet: Leverage Grid-Based, Responsive Design Build a Mobile Optimized Website The approach you choose will depend upon the unique needs of your business and of your customers. 2012 Acumium LLC All Rights Reserved P a g e 11
Responsive Design or Grid-Based Design Responsive design is a method for designing websites that allows for optimal viewing from all devices and screen solutions. Its major advantage is that it is flexible to many devices; it allows for the creation of only one set of code that will be used for all devices. One shared set of code isn t just great for design, but also easier for managing a website. One set of code means less to maintain and update. Responsive design is also the only option to create a smartphone or tablet optimized site at the same time as a redesign or re-launch of a traditional, desktop-based website. Same set of code for all devices. Responsive design can be limiting, however, in that it does not give the developer or designer the control to change the design for each device. Once one block of content is designed in the grid-based design method, that block will be the same on every device. 2012 Acumium LLC All Rights Reserved P a g e 12
How Grid-Based Design Works Grid-based design runs on the concept of a grid. Every piece of content on a page is a block and every device has a set width of blocks it can fit. When a row of content cannot fit the next block that block shifts down and continues until the next row reaches its max width; this shifting down in blocks is called scaffolding. When a page is rendering on a device, the site detects the type of device and responds accordingly, hence the name responsive design. These images illustrate an example of the responsive design concept. Note that not all portrait tablets are 8 blocks wide, or smartphones 4, etc. The max allotment of blocks for a screen depends on the screen resolution and size of the device. Desktop 12 Blocks Wide Landscape Tablet 10 Blocks Wide Portrait Tablet 8 Blocks Wide Smartphone 4 Blocks Wide 2012 Acumium LLC All Rights Reserved P a g e 13
Mobile Optimized Website A mobile optimized website is a website that is designed solely for mobile devices, whether a tablet or smartphone. Designing a mobile optimized site allows for the most control over the site; each site can be designed and specified to each device. Control over the design helps to improve the user experience because the size of the device is taken into account with each site design. One site would be designed for tablet and one for smartphone. This method usually results in a better user experience from faster load speeds. When the site is being developed, image sizes and content are shrunk down in size so that they will load faster on devices running on slower connections. The downside of a mobile optimized website is it requires the creation of a template for each device. Each site has to be designed and developed separately, which means more to QA, more to maintain and more to update down the line. Mobile optimized sites create more work from a site management perspective, having to manage two or three different sites. 2012 Acumium LLC All Rights Reserved P a g e 14
Understand Your Users & Your Resources How do people currently use your site? If your core users have older smartphones, they may not even use a mobile site but be more apt to shop via their tablets. Review your website analytics and use this information to decide where to shift your focus. Consider your resources and the strategy for creating your tablet site. While responsive design requires a substantial amount of pre-planning, it may require less time in maintenance and updates. However, if you want absolute control over the design of your site on each device, a mobile optimized site is a better option. 2012 Acumium LLC All Rights Reserved P a g e 15
Design for Experience Design your site for a great user experience. When planning and developing your tablet optimized site, consider the following: Swipe and Flip Enabled Features On a tablet, people expect to swipe. Make sure you engage your users. For example, allow users to flip through a gallery of images without having to click on an arrow or next button every time, as they would on a desktop. Hover On a desktop site, it is common to hover your mouse over a word and have a submenu of information drop down. This is commonly used in navigation bars. Hover is not a function of tablets because tablets can t detect your finger until it actually touches the screen. 2012 Acumium LLC All Rights Reserved P a g e 16
Design for Experience Design for Fingertips Make sure you space items so that it s easy for people to use their fingers to click them. Think about how hard it can be to select an option on your smartphone or tablet when everything on the site is crunched together. Speed of Page Rendering People expect a page to load in a few seconds. The longer the page takes to load, the more likely they are to navigate away from your site. Remember to consider the size of your images and how this will affect the load speed. 2012 Acumium LLC All Rights Reserved P a g e 17
Recap: Why Tablet Optimization is Important More people are shopping by tablet and this growing segment converts at a much higher rate than smartphones. By 2013, tablet web traffic will surpass smartphone traffic. 1 Online shopping is often done between multiple devices and tablet is the most common starting point. 3 88% of mobile users regularly research products via their smartphone or tablet. 4 66.5% of mobile users either regularly or occasionally purchase products via smartphone or tablet. 4 2012 Acumium LLC All Rights Reserved P a g e 18
Recap: Ways to Optimize & Design Considerations Leverage Grid-Based, Responsive Design Build a Mobile Optimized Website Decision Criteria Analytics User Needs Strategy Resources Design Considerations Swipe and Flip Enabled Features Hover Design for Fingertips Speed of Page Rendering 2012 Acumium LLC All Rights Reserved P a g e 19
About Acumium We are a group of technology and marketing savvy professionals who provide fullservice Internet solutions to help business grow online. Partner with us for strategic ebusiness consulting, online marketing and web development. Use our proprietary Content Management System or ecommerce platforms and create the perfect online website experience for your customers. Contact us for more information or to subscribe to our newsletter. Web: www. Email: info@ Phone: (608) 310-9700 Address: 717 John Nolen Drive Madison, WI 53713 Acumium Clients View these and more clients in our Client Portfolio References 1. Adobe Systems, Holiday 2012: Get Ready for the Tablet-Based Shopping Revolution (2012) 2. Monetate, ecommerce Quarterly (EQ2 2012) (2012) 3. Google, Navigating the new multi-screen world: Insights show how consumers use different devices together (2012) 4. Prosper Mobile Insights, Mobile Survey (Aug-12) (2012) 2012 Acumium LLC All Rights Reserved P a g e 20