New Research Reveals US Mobile E-Commerce at an All Time High; Provides a Deep Dive into the M-Commerce Revolution

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Mobile commerce continues to grow at an astounding rate. It's only a matter of time until mobile orders represent the majority of online commerce.

New York, NY (PRWEB) July 09, 2014

The evidence surrounds us, whether it's commuters immersed in their tablets on the subway, toddlers with Sesame Street apps, or a shopper buying toilet paper on her phone while inside a “brick and mortar” store because it’s cheaper online. Mobile computing is doing everything except slowing down. According to the new Custora E-Commerce Pulse Mobile Report, released today, in the past four years the percentage of traffic to e-commerce sites from mobile devices (phones and tablets) jumped from 3% to nearly 37%, while US mobile e-commerce sales grew from $2 billion in 2010 to $43 billion in 2013. This significant industry shift has important implications for marketers who are working feverishly to revise their strategies in order to reach consumers when and where they want to be reached.

"Retail is changing, and cross-device shopping is at the heart of the change. High-value, repeat customers are now three times more likely to be cross-device shoppers than they were in early 2012. The fastest-growing retail brands segment their customer base, and know that different customer segments have unique device preferences, which often translate to varied product category preferences, and specific purchasing patterns," said Corey Pierson, CEO of Custora. "Mobile commerce continues to grow at an astounding rate. It's only a matter of time until mobile orders represent the majority of online commerce. Meanwhile, as mobile is growing, the landscape is dramatically changing. Mobile shopping used to be synonymous with Apple, but that's no longer the case. Samsung is truly making a dent in mobile shopping, and Amazon Fire is growing quickly."

The Custora E-Commerce Pulse Mobile Report analyzed data from more than 100 retailers, 70 million consumers and $10B in transaction revenue to gain a deeper level of understanding into which mobile e-commerce trends marketers should pay the closest attention to. The report also includes interviews with marketing leaders at online retailers excelling in mobile e-commerce - Nomorerack, Karmaloop, and thredUP - who share practical advice from the front lines.

Highlights include:

•     US mobile e-commerce is a $40 billion market, poised to hit $50 billion in 2014. In the past four years, the mobile e-commerce market grew 19-fold: From $2.2 billion in 2010 to $42.8 billion in 2013. This represents 1875% growth over four years, and 111% 4-year CAGR. 2014 is off to a strong start with $12.2 billion in mobile e-commerce sales in Q1 alone; it’s likely that mobile e-commerce will hit $50 billion in 2014.
•     Amazon and Samsung are challenging Apple’s e-commerce supremacy. Over the last two years, iPhone's share of e-commerce orders from mobile phones decreased from 75% in 2012 to 54% as of March 2014. Samsung phones have grown their share of phone orders over the same time period from 7% to 31%. iPad still accounts for 80% of tablet e-commerce orders, though share of orders made from Samsung tablets increased from 2% in 2012 to 12% as of March 2014. Amazon has also quickly become an important player, with purchases made on Kindle Fire tablets now accounting for 4.1% of all tablet orders. This bodes well for the just-announced Amazon Fire Phone.
•     Email marketing drives mobile purchases - Social Media not so much. Email marketing drove 27% of sales on mobile phones, compared to only 21% on desktop, and 23% on tablet. This is a surprising data point considering the challenges of displaying email correctly on mobile devices, and deep-linking into mobile apps. Social media accounted for only 0.6% of sales on phones and 0.2% on tablets.
•      Cross-device shoppers are a small but highly valuable customer segment. As of Q1 2014, just 12% of online shoppers make purchases on more than one device type - however this represents significant growth from only 4% in 2012. This customer segment is also 19% more valuable, in terms of customer lifetime value (CLV), than the average single-device shopper.

To download the complete research report, visit: http://www.custora.com/mobilereport. The report's data set is available to download as a spreadsheet here: http://www.custora.com/mobiledata.

Report Methodology: Custora analyzed data from more than 100 online retailers, 70 million consumers and $10B in transaction revenue during the time period of January 2010 to March 2014 to develop its new Mobile E-Commerce report. More details about our methodology can be found here.

About Custora
Custora (http://www.custora.com) provides a customer-centric marketing platform that helps e-commerce teams make customer acquisition and retention programs more profitable. Custora’s software uses advanced statistical models to identify distinct customer segments and predict how customers will behave in the future. This enables e-commerce companies to deliver more relevant and effective communications that promote long-term customer relationships. Custora is proud to work with some of the world’s leading e-commerce retailers, including GUESS?, Ann Taylor LOFT, Etsy, Backcountry, Bonobos, Crocs, Wine.com, and One Kings Lane. If you’re interested in learning more about Custora, request a demo here.

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