Smartphones accounted for 60% for mobile transactions in 2015’s fourth quarter, according to Criteo’s latest “State of Mobile Commerce” report released this week.
The study is based on 3,300 of Criteo’s online retail and travel clients. The businesses process approximately 1.7 billion transactions, or purchases, per year on desktop and mobile sites totaling $720 billion in annual sales.
Smartphones continue to eat away tablets’ portion of mobile commerce transactions, as its share of the mobile commerce market grew 15% year over year, as smartphones were only 52% of mobile transactions in Q4 2014.
Overall, 30% of e-commerce transactions occurred on a mobile device in the fourth quarter, up from 27% a year earlier, according to the report. On Black Friday, the Friday after Thanksgiving, mobile accounted for 41% of U.S. e-commerce transactions, Criteo finds.
Globally, the United States lags behind other countries in terms of mobile commerce’s market share, as the global average of e-commerce transactions made via a mobile device is 35%, up from 30% in 2014’s fourth quarter.
The report also finds that consumers using a mobile app to shop are more engaged and more likely to buy than those on a mobile browser. Consumers visiting a site on a mobile browser view 5.7 products per visit, while app consumers view 22.0 products per visit. Of consumers who view a product, 13% of consumers on a mobile browser add a product to their carts, while 24% of app consumers add a product to their baskets. Of consumers who put an item in their carts, 44% of shoppers using mobile browsers purchase it, and 54% of app consumers purchase it.
Apps also bring in more revenue per transaction, as the average order value in apps is $102, which is larger than desktops at $100 and mobile browsers at $92.
The report also finds that mobile’s influence extends far beyond completed transactions. Cross-device transactions—when a consumer visits a brand or retailer on more than one device before purchasing—accounted for 37% of all transactions in Q4 2015. Of those cross-device purchases, 31% were completed on a mobile device and 69% on a desktop.