Two-fifths of online sales to be via smartphones and tablets by 2018
UK retail e-commerce sales will rise 16.0 per cent this year, eMarketer predicts, while m-commerce will rise by 64.8 per cent.
Tablet sales are growing considerably faster than smartphone sales in the UK, even though smartphone usage is far more common than tablet usage, and is expected to account for two-thirds of total UK m-commerce sales in 2014.
"M-commerce is seeing such good growth for a couple of reasons: Mobile device ownership is rising rapidly, and consumers are becoming more comfortable making purchases on these devices. Tablets, in particular, offer a larger and more tactile interface for online shopping, which is why we're seeing particularly fast growth in tablet commerce," explained Bill Fisher, UK analyst at eMarketer.
The company expects tablet-based retail m-commerce sales to more than double from £9.28bn this year to £20.96bn by 2018.
Already, over one-quarter of all online sales in the UK take place via smartphones and tablets; by 2018, eMarketer predicts that figure will be nearer to two in five.