Although mobile commerce is still relatively new to the shopping scene, it continues to make real strides in terms of popularity. According to a new report from IBM, mobile commerce expenditures increased by more than 13 percent during the first quarter of 2012, suggesting consumers are becoming increasingly open to buying goods through their smartphones and tablets.

Mobile traffic, regardless of whether a purchase was made, helped initiate nearly one-fifth (17.1 percent) of all online sessions during the first quarter of 2012, while Apple's iPhone drove the overwhelming majority of mobile visits at 6.5 percent. Overall, online sales showed a 6.3 percent increase from February to March 2012.

"Over the first quarter, the empowered consumer continued to demonstrate the momentum of the online channel and specifically mobile commerce, which has established itself as a legitimate channel for shopping,” said Craig Hayman, general manager, IBM industry solutions.

According to data from comScore, more than 100 million Americans currently have web-enabled smartphones. Retailers need to ensure their ecommerce websites are optimized for these devices or else they could miss out on potential sales.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012 at 10:46 am .