- August 29, 2013

Tablets Drive About 20% More Average Spending Than Smartphones

During the first half of 2013, smartphone dollars accounted for $6.7 billion, or 63% of the $10.6 billion in mobile commerce spending. This finding seems to defy the conventional wisdom that tablets are much strong drivers of mobile buying, until factoring in that smartphone adoption (142 million U.S. users in June) far surpasses that of tablets (69 million U.S. users in June).

Interestingly, on a per user basis, tablets actually drive about 20% more spending on average ($57 spending per tablet owner vs. $47 per smartphone owner).

If retailers are trying to optimize for dollars today, then the smarter bet is to focus their development and user experience efforts on smartphones. But don’t forget about tablets: Adoption is increasing rapidly and tablets may well surpass smartphones in terms of total retail dollars.

Want more mobile commerce trends? Take a look at the latest from our Mobile Commerce Sales Estimates reports.

M-Commerce Spending by Platform US