Tablets encourage users to make a purchase

A number of newly upgraded e-readers and tablets have now become available to consumers and the users of these devices are proving to be dedicated shoppers; a fact that is not escaping many retailers.

As the base models of each of the different devices begin to offer consumers a growing number of shopping-friendly features, retailers are beginning to place their holiday shopping focus on tablets this holiday season, much more than they ever have before. This is because the conversion rate – that is, the number of shoppers who actually make a purchase – is notably high among the users of those mobile devices.

Though tablets make up only a small percentage of e-commerce as a whole, they are still managing to pull their weight. According to Forrester Research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru, the conversion rate for shoppers using a traditional desktop or laptop computers is about 3 percent. That said, the conversion rate for tablet shoppers is between 4 and 5 percent.

Furthermore, many retailers have noted that when orders are made using tablets, they’re larger than when they come from other devices. In fact, in some cases, orders made by tablet device are 10 to 20 percent higher than they are when they are made using smartphones or PCs.

Therefore, there is no mystery as to why many retailers are making the effort to try to get onboard this trend by optimizing their websites so that they are more useable by tablet devices, as well as by making their catalogs available in a format that is specifically intended for the tablet.

According to the Macy’s Inc. chief marketing officer, Peter Sachse, who is also the Macys.com chairman, “Everything helps.”