Tablet Owners To Give A Boost To Online Shopping Around Christmas

Owners of tablets in the UK seem to be strongly engaged with e-commerce as many of them will use their devices to do Christmas shopping online this year, the latest eCustomerServiceIndex report from eDigitalResearch and IMRG reveals.

Tablet owners currently account for 21% of the population, and 71% of them will consider using their tablet to make seasonal purchases over the Internet, the study shows. Some 41% of smartphone owners, on the other hand, will consider ordering products through their gadgets, which is 20% above the figure seen in 2011. Overall, 96% of UK online consumers intend to do at least part of their seasonal shopping online, with 26% claiming they will buy more products online than last year.

The study, which is based on the responses of 2,000 consumers, also showed that 51% of smartphone owners go online through their mobile while shopping in-store, half of them using the opportunity to visit retail websites.

Online retailers should be happy with consumers’ sentiment towards e-commerce around Christmas, however, in order to end the year with flying colours they must stay in touch with innovations in technology, Derek Eccleston, head of research at eDigitalResearch, said. It is essential for retailers to give customers access to online resources while shopping on the high street if they want to see the growing use of mobile devices work for them. That way, they will provide customers with a multichannel experience, boost satisfaction and provide for their longer stay in stores, he added.