US: mobile ecommerce booms - report

In Q1 2014, the value of mobile ecommerce sales reached USD 12.2 billion.

According to the report in question, direct traffic was the primary driver for purchases via the mobile channel, (32.9%), while email marketing drove 26.7% as compared to 20.9% on desktop and 23.1% on tablet, respectively.

Moreover, organic search reached 16%, whereas social media accounted for less than 1% of mobile orders with 0.6% via mobile phones and 0.2% via tablets, respectively.

37% of online store visits were made via mobile devices by the end of Q1 2014, up from 3.4% at the beginning of 2010. In the same interval, desktops recorded an average ecommerce conversion rate of 4.3% compared to 2.8% for tablets and 1.4% for mobile phones from January 2013 to March 2014. Noteworthy, online consumers prefer to make their first purchase on a desktop, only moving to a mobile device for repeat purchases after establishing trust with the retailer.

However, 12% of consumers used multiple devices to shop in Q1 2014, although the number has tripled since 2012.

Custora research was conducted on over 70 consumers and 100 internet retailers.