Auto Trader mobile searches outstrip desktop 20 months earlier than Google forecasted
The mobile ‘tipping point’ for Auto Trader took place in March 2013 when searches for cars on mobile and tablet exceeded those made on a desktop.
At a StarcomMedia Group conference earlier this year, Google predicted that the cross-over for all searches would take place on 4 December 2014.
However, Auto Trader found that that the tipping point came twenty months earlier than anticipated, with market research director Nick King saying that car buyers are “blazing a trail in the use of mobile devices.”
“Nearly seven in every ten full-page advertisement views were made on tablet or mobile last month,” said King. “That should be a rallying cry for dealers who question the value of optimising their websites for mobile devices.”
Latest figures from June 2014 reveal that mobile use now accounts for nearly two thirds of Auto Trader traffic, up 21 per cent year-on-year. 63 per cent of searches have now gone mobile (20 per cent on tablet and 43 per cent for mobile devices) compared with 37 per cent for PC.