iPad | Internet Marketing Blog

Premier Inn's simple iPad app is a useful tool for business travellers

Premier Inn recently unveiled a new iPad app alongside a revamped iPhone version as it seeks to increase mobile sales and repeat bookings.

The hotel chain took more than 100,000 bookings through its iPhone app in 2012 and the updated version has already seen average daily sales conversions increase from 3% to 5.9%.

Designed by Grapple, the new apps feature improved navigation, redesigned booking function, Trip Advisor ratings, the ability to add extras such as breakfast, and a simplified process for booking repeat stays.

The iPhone app has been downloaded more than two million times since it was first launched in January 2011, so to find out what the fuss is about I tried out the new iPad version...

by David Moth 25 April 2013 11:06am 0 comments

Branch on the go: three key lessons from innovators in the tablet banking market

Banking is boring. We all know this as one of life’s truisms. It is also an activity you usually squeeze in at lunch time with a visit to a branch, or more recently conducted surreptitiously at work on your PC.

Now the arrival of the iPad has helped move banking transactions from a work based and PC-centric activity, to a “bank on the go” and now, more recently, “a branch on the go”, experience.

This is good news for banking and banks generally.

In what for most people has at best been a neutral experience and often less than that, the arrival of the tablet has revived some of the missing components of a pleasant banking experience.

by Paul Merry 04 April 2013 11:12am 0 comments

How Net-A-Porter plans to build on its mobile success in 2013

Despite the massive shift towards mobile commerce in recent years, surprisingly few retailers have managed to create successful, user-friendly iPad apps.

So it’s all the more impressive that Net-A-Porter has produced several high quality apps that cater perfectly for the iPad’s ‘lean back’ browsing experience.

This time last year it was reported that 15% of Net-A-Porter’s traffic came from mobile devices, a figure that had increased from 10% in just six months, which explains why the brand places such great emphasis on its mobile strategy.

The luxury retailer successfully blurs the lines between being a publisher and an ecommerce store, so its iPad apps include a huge amount of editorial and video content in order to entertain and inform customers while also edging them towards the checkout.

by David Moth 18 March 2013 11:21am 0 comments

Tablets now account for more web traffic than smartphones: stats

The importance of tablets to ecommerce is well-documented, with research consistently showing that the devices convert at a much higher rate than smartphones.

And new data from Adobe shows global websites are now getting more traffic from tablets than smartphones, at 8% and 7% of monthly page views respectively.

This is particularly impressive considering that the device only came to market three years ago, and it’s also good news for ecommerce sites.

In December we reported that conversion rates from tablets were four times higher than on smartphones, and actually peaked above desktop on Cyber Monday.

by David Moth 08 March 2013 13:22pm 5 comments

Creating effective ads for tablets

The fastest growth in ad spend is coming not from mobiles but from tablets. Campaigns for tablets are often grouped with mobile, and yet consumer behaviour is different on each.

Understanding that difference is critical in creating an effective campaign for tablet users.

by Mark Cluer 31 January 2013 09:53am 2 comments

50+ fascinating stats about mobile commerce in the UK

In case you hadn’t noticed, smartphones and tablets are now hugely important for ecommerce both in terms of traffic and conversions.

According to Ofcom, smartphone penetration in the UK now stands at 58% while 19% of the population owns a tablet, so websites have no choice but to adapt to accommodate the ensuing changes in consumer behaviour.

With this in mind, I thought it would be useful to round up some of the most useful stats and surveys we’ve seen in the past 12 months.

And for more data on m-commerce checkout our Internet Statistics Compendium...

by David Moth 22 January 2013 09:46am 3 comments

Tablets account for 18% of UK paid search clicks, but just 8% in the US

Tablets accounted for almost one fifth (18%) of UK paid search clicks for retailers in 2012 compared to 13% on smartphone, according to a new report from Kenshoo.

Tablets also delivered 18.3% of conversions and 21.3% of revenue, while smartphones achieved just 3.6% of overall retail conversions from PPC and 3.4% of revenue.

Similarly, the conversion rate from smartphone visits is just 1.59% compared to 5.85% on tablet and 6.53% on desktop.

The report indicates that marketers aren’t yet making the most of the opportunity presented by tablets, as the devices account for 14.1% of ad spend at a CPC of £0.25, while desktop hoovers up 78.7% with a CPC of £0.36.

by David Moth 14 January 2013 12:33pm 1 comment

Conversion rates from tablets are four times higher than smartphones: stats

Throughout 2012 we’ve seen numerous studies that highlight the massive difference between shopping behaviours on tablet and smartphones.

The usability of each device should make this obvious, yet they were often – and occasionally still are – lumped together in the mobile category when comparing sales and traffic stats to desktop computers.

This is despite the fact that data published by Adobe in May shows that one tablet generates as many website visits as four smartphones.

By the end of Q1 2012 smartphones accounted for 6.1% of site visits compared to 4.3% on tablet.

However, smartphones only maintain a greater share of website visits due to the lower penetration rate of tablets, with 5x more smartphones shipped across North America and Western Europe compared to tablets.

by David Moth 19 December 2012 10:28am 4 comments

Mobile accounts for 28% of paid search clicks so far this Christmas

Smartphones and tablets have accounted for more than a quarter (28%) of the clicks on retail paid search ads so far this Christmas, according to data from Kenshoo.

The Kenshoo 2012 UK Online Retail Christmas Shopping Report - Early Edition, indicates that the share of clicks from personal computers is down to 72%, with tablets comprising 15% of all clicks and mobile phones accounting for 13%.

The data also shows that tablets drive the highest average order value at £85.55, followed by smartphone (£77.80) and desktop (£75.93).

However smartphone conversions lag way behind the other devices at just 1%, compared to 4.99% on tablet and 5.16% on desktop.

by David Moth 18 December 2012 12:52pm 5 comments

The Daily learns that tablet-only isn't a publishing strategy

Mobile-first, or web-first? Neither alone is a real strategy for success.

For Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., learning that has proved to be an expensive experience as the media giant has decided to abandon its iPad-only publication, The Daily, after less than two years.

by Patricio Robles 04 December 2012 15:09pm 2 comments