Much was made about the dramatic uptick in mobile device penetration, usage and commerce in 2013.
And for good reason. After all, 2013 will go down in history as the year that saw the majority of Americans officially become advanced mobile phone users, with a Pew Research Center study demonstrating that some 56% of all Americans now own smartphones.
It may also be remembered as the year we began to see a string of TV spots strongly and powerfully advocating against the at-times lethal usage of such phones while driving.
Here at the official blog of Amplitude Digital, we reported a good bit on many mobile matters in 2013. From optimizing your company’s website for mobile users (something too few businesses are doing) to the sudden surge in mobile marketing and advertising to the exciting future of things like “mobile voice commerce”…we covered a lot of ground. You might say we, too, were “upwardly mobile” in 2013.
And we’re proud to say we didn’t write, read or report about any of it while driving. Not even while sitting in parked freeway traffic.
We also did our part to celebrate and look closer at The Holiday Season in 2013. And as more and more post-Holiday data starts to pour in, we start to see an increasingly clear picture:
As much as mobile already matters, it will mean even more in 2014. Including mobile commerce (or m-commerce, or mCommerce, for short). Especially mobile commerce.
According to a recently released IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark, mobile traffic accounted for more than a third of all online traffic for the fourth quarter of 2013, up a staggering 40% over the same quarter in 2012.
IBM closely monitored and measured millions of transactions from around 800 retail sites all across the country throughout the holiday shopping period, and found that mobile played an increasingly vital and primary role.
Among IBM’s findings were that mobile sales accounted for some 17% of all online sales – an increase of 46% over the previous year – with overall online sales up a full 10%. The IBM research also revealed that more actual transactions took place on tablets than on smartphones, with tablet transactions representing 12% of those overall online sales, and smartphone sales at just 5%
In other recent mobile marketing news, MediaPost, via its MobileShopTalk blog, recently posted a good summary of key mobile commerce developments in 2013.
Entitled “Mobile Commerce 2013: A Look Back,” the post was authored by Chuck Martin, MediaPost’s mCommerce Daily editor and regular MobileShopTalk blog author. Martin also serves as CEO of research firm Mobile Future Institute and is a New York Times bestselling author of books such as “The Smartphone Handbook” and “The Third Screen.”
In the post, Martin looks at the rise in mobile coupons, mobile shopping and overall mobile strategy, among other things. It’s a great read, and chock full of great links. We’d highly recommend giving it a whirl.
Martin is also currently attending the annual CES festivities in Las Vegas, with an eye on all things mobile and mobile commerce-related. That should also be worth following closely.
We’d also love to hear YOUR thoughts about mobile commerce – what it meant to you in 2013, what you expect to see in 2014, and your feelings and opinions on mobile commerce in general.
Let us know in the comments section below this blog. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
And have an amazing 2014. Personally and professionally.
