'Staggering' Online Sales Through Mobiles Set To Out Strip PCs

Online sales on mobile devices have increased by a almost quarter in the past year and now account for a fifth of all web sales.

Analysts now expect sales though mobile devices such as phones and tablets to outstrip PCs 'sooner than expected'. 

E-tail sales on mobiles in the first quarter of 2013 increased to 20.2 per cent from 15.4 per cent in the same period last year. Visits on mobile devices increased to 30 per cent, up from 24 per cent a year earlier, according to the research from the internet retailing body IMRG and business consultancy Capgemini.

The report said: 'The surge is likely to have been influenced by the huge increase in tablet-owners following strong sales of the devices over Christmas. Mobile has long been considered a key part of any retail strategy yet the growth rates have been staggering nevertheless.'

'Mobile is clearly a game-changer for the UK e-retail industry, with m-retail sales. At the beginning of 2010 mobile sales accounted for just 0.4 per cent of the UK e-retail market – within three years it has surged a staggering 5,000 per cent, with m-retail now accounting for one in every 5 online purchases,' said the IMRG's chief information officer Tina Spooner. 

'With the continuing shift away from desktop to mobile internet use, it is inevitable we will see the latter platform outstrip desktop PCs as the preferred device for shopping online, and from the latest figures it is apparent this may be sooner than expected,' she said.

Sean McKee, Head of ecommerce and customer services at Schuh said: 'We have continued to see mobile device participation and sales power ahead in the first quarter of 2013, and believe that this will be the last quarter where desktop traffic is still the majority player.  For us at least, a key tipping point is about to be reached.'