Holiday Survey: 'Tablet Commerce' Jumps to 12%

By Adam Blair
Tablet devices' rapid, soaring success is being replicated in the world of e-commerce. A new consumer survey of heavy Web users indicates 12% plan to use tablets for their Cyber Monday and holiday shopping in 2011. The Ponemon Institute survey reveals that 37% of these early adopting consumers plan to use smartphones, with 49% sticking with desktops and laptops.

Retailers that want to capture more of these tablet-loving shoppers will want to take advantage of the devices' larger screen sizes and capabilities, including their ability to switch from portrait to landscape mode, as they refine their e-commerce strategies moving forward.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, many of these Web-friendly consumers plan to spend more online than in brick-and-mortar stores this holiday season: 33% say their e-commerce purchases will exceed their in-store purchases. If these trends take further hold among the general consumer population, Web and mobile activity will continue to grow at the expense of physical store traffic.

The Mobile Payments and Online Shopping Survey, conducted by the Ponemon Institute in conjunction with ThreatMetrix, gathered data from 722 U.S. consumers who self-reported that they are active users of the Internet. Respondents spend an average of 24 hours per week on the Web, with 57% making daily or weekly purchases. The survey also identified 30% of the respondents as an "Elite" group, with members who spend more than 20 hours per week online and do at least two of these three online activities: blogging, paying bills or social media.

Among the Elite group, which in general is younger, better educated and more likely to be gainfully employed, enthusiasm for smartphones and tablets eclipses more traditional devices: 49% indicate a preference for smartphones and 17% for tablets, with only 34% saying they will use their desktop or laptop for digital shopping. A larger percentage of the Elite group (40%) plans to spend more online than in brick-and-mortar stores during holiday 2011.

The survey also revealed what these consumers are buying on their mobile devices:
· Music downloads: 77%
· Online service subscriptions or memberships: 75%
· Apps for smartphones or tablets: 73%
· Consumer electronics: 48%
· Apparel: 43%