Tablets prove popular for e-commerce

With the number of people owning tablet devices forecast to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 51% between 2010 and 2015, tablet commerce is expected to grow rapidly over the same period, reports Marketing Profs.

This is according to a new report by Forrester Research in partnership with Bizrate Insights which adds that shopping online is a popular activity among tablet owners with 47% saying they've purchased something via their tablet and an additional 13% saying they have shopped via a tablet without buying.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the study, which based its findings on a survey of more than 20 000 online buyers, also found that among those who owned multiple devices, the tablet trumps both the smartphone and the PC as the preferred shopping device.

Despite the tablet's growth, retailer investment has been 'anaemic'. The study found that the average online retailer spent just $14 000 on modifying content to suit tablets.

The findings also reveal that this could be a lost opportunity; however, as the rich feature set of tablet devices provides retailers an opportunity to create differentiated content and to set one's brand apart.

But Forrester's Sucharita Mulpuru said that tablets have come on so fast that retailers are hesitant to “double down and invest in a technology that came out of nowhere.” For the time being, Mulpuru said, many online retailers believe that their Web-based offerings are “good enough” for the tablet audience.