More consumers go online from their phones, especially to social sites, comScore says.
Consumers are going online from their mobile phones in much greater numbers than just a year ago, according to a report this week from web and mobile measurement firm comScore Inc. Social networks are by far the most popular destination, but there is also strong growth in more serious tasks such as banking and shopping.
In the report from its MobiLens service, comScore broke out the two ways consumers can access the web from mobile handsets: by using a browser to access a mobile web site or by using a mobile app that resides on the phone and typically holds some of the data and images that the consumer sees, making for a faster and richer experience.
Whether consumers accessed the web via a mobile browser or an app, many of them were headed for social network sites.
14.5 million U.S. consumers used apps to access social network sites in April, 240% more than the 4.3 million who did so in April 2009, comScore says. Meanwhile, 29.8 million used browsers to go to social sites in April 2010, up 90% from 15.7 million a year earlier, comScore says.
Accessing bank accounts was the second most common activity from web browsers, with 13.2 million consumers doing so in April, an increase of 69% from a year earlier. 7.3 million consumers used browsers to access retail sites, up 47% from the same month a year ago.
As for consumers who used apps, accessing news and sports sites were the second and third most frequent activities. Going to online bank accounts was fourth, with nearly 5 million consumers doing so, up 113% from a year ago. 2.7 million consumers used online retailers’ apps, up 91%.
“Social networking is by far the fastest-growing mobile activity right now,” says Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile. “With 20% of mobile users now accessing social networking sites via their phone, we expect to see both application and browser usage continuing to drive future consumption of social media.”
The rapid access of web access from mobile phones mirrors the proliferation of smartphones, the sophisticated mobile handsets with larger screens and faster processors than older, so-called feature phones. 78% of smartphone users accessed the web through a browser in April 2010 and 80% used mobile apps. By contrast, only 19% of feature phone users accessed their browsers and 17% used apps.
However, because there are still so many more feature phones than smartphones, much of the mobile web traffic is still from the older phones. For instance, 35.3 million feature phone users employed their browsers in April 2010 vs. 37.6 million smartphone owners, and 31.2 million feature phone owners used apps compared with 38.4 million smartphone users.
“Although growth in application usage on smartphones continues to grab the spotlight in the mobile market, the audience using their mobile browser remains larger and is growing just as quickly,” Donovan says. “Brands need to remember to take into consideration the user experience across both channels when building their mobile strategies.”
Nonetheless, the report also illustrates the rapid growth in use of smartphones. There was a 111% increase in the number of smartphone users employing web users in April vs. a year earlier and a 112% increase in the number using mobile apps. The number of feature phone users who employed browsers declined 6% and those using apps went down 14%.
The total number of mobile phone subscribers in the U.S. in December 2009 was 285.9 million, according to the CTIA-The Wireless Association, a trade group for telecom operators. ComScore says 17% of U.S. mobile phone subscribers owned smartphones in December.
Source: Internet Retailer
Department stores lead Q1 growth in e-commerce sales, Demandware reports
Department stores led year-over-year growth in first quarter e-commerce sales, with a rise of 76.1%, e-commerce technology provider Demandware says in a performance index based on its U.S. and European clients.
The index, which is based on retail e-commerce sales at 126 web sites that operate on Demandware’s software-as-a-service e-commerce platform, also notes that Q1 year-over-year growth at European sites far outpaced their U.S. counterparts, 66.9% to 18.3%.
Demandware says its European clients’ e-commerce sites have been growing three to four times as fast on a year-to-year basis for the past several quarters, reflecting the ongoing growth potential in Europe, where online shopping caught on more slowly in the U.S.
The company says aggregated Q1 growth for the 126 sites was 39.5%, with 97% of that growth driven by a higher conversion rate that produced more orders despite a slight decline in traffic to the sites. Demandware attributed the remaining 3% of the growth to higher average order values.
The company notes that a number of its clients are growing by launching new e-commerce sites to serve additional countries, focus on particular brands or product categories, and to target specific consumer groups.
In addition to department stores, the index broke out Q1 growth rates by the following retail verticals:
- Apparel 40.5%
- Health & Beauty 14.7%
- Home & Garden 12.5%
- Toys & Games 9.7%
- Media & Entertainment 9.0%
Demandware also noted in its index report:
- Luxury brands are recovering relatively slowly from the economic downturn, as consumer have shifted toward lower-priced goods;
- Many clients are exploring the use of personalization tools to offer merchandise more likely to appeal to particular segments of customers;
- Several retailers are either launching or planning mobile commerce sites, though most have not yet seen a significant amount of sales through the mobile channel.
Source: Internet Retailer
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