Only 10% of the brands in IMRG/Hitwise's list of top 100 online retailers has built a website specifically for tablet browsing, according to analysis by mobile marketing agency Somo.
The research also shows that while just over a quarter (26%) have an iPad app, less than 20% have created Android tablet apps.
As tablet ownership becomes more prevalent in the UK (but perhaps not quite as much as some report suggest), retailers will need to start looking at this area when considering responsive design.
Research by Affiliate Window found that iPad conversion rates last August were 3.82% compared to 1.9% on desktop.
Separate research by Adobe shows that tablet visitors to e-commerce sites spend 20% more than desktop shoppers and twice as much as those using smartphones.
Somo’s analysis is all the more surprising as Topshop recently stated that around two-thirds of its mobile visitors came from tablets, and yet the company does not have a tablet site or app.
PC World, Thomson and BHS are among the 20 top retailers with no tablet and smartphone apps or sites.
Somo also found that 43% of the top 100 retailers don’t have an iPhone app and 63% have no app for Android phones.
Only 57% of online retailers have a website that works on mobile.
Somo CEO Nick Hynes said that this was "basic stuff".
A well-built mobile site does retailers the world of good, allowing customers to make shopping comparisons on their phones while in store, and browse leisurely at home on their tablet.”
Reader comments (3)
E-Business Consultant at Dan Barker
9:12PM on 25th February 2012
To ask the obvious question of Somo: If websites convert twice as well on iPad than on desktop, and visitors spend 20% more time on site, why would retailers prioritize making 'tablet-specific' versions of their sites?
The market is still moving, and the Kindle Fire is coming fairly soon to the UK. Retailers are best to check their figures for iPad, iron out any big bugs in user experience, and (for most) to wait & see for a few more months before thinking about expending lots of time/effort on a tablet version of their existing sites.
Head of Ecommerce at Lovehoney
9:20PM on 25th February 2012
This article confuses me a bit. It says "retailers will need to start looking at this area when considering responsive design." but yet talks about building tablet and mobile specific sites, when that's exactly what RWD is about not doing.
Also, the stats are a bit shaky, or at least, imply there's causality without taking into account different economics or tech-savviness of tablet owners.
Chairman at Nett Sales LLP
2:20PM on 27th February 2012
most websites (flash excluded!) work fine on iPad, which is a large portion of this market. So not sure that a tablet specific version of a website is needed...
Now a mobile version, that's a different matter!
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