• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, February 17, 2014

According to a new study, by Javelin Strategy & Research, 2013 marked an important mobile payment's “first,” with tablet payments comprising almost half of all mobile commerce. In 2013, tablets accounted for a massive $28.7 billion in mobile online commerce, or over 50% of the entire mobile online payments space. That is quintuple 2012's $5.1 billion. The portion of commerce generated through tablets is fueled by rising device ownership, as mobile consumers ownership of tablets doubled inform since 2012.

Consumer mobile purchasing surged to an all-time high, reaching almost $60 billion and demonstrating triple-digit growth in 2013. Consumers are increasingly turning to tablets and phones for purchasing despite the fact that many sites are not ideally set up yet for mobile devices. Consumer spend on tablets surpassed phones for the first time in 2013 as tablet adoption swelled.

As tablet ownership rates continue to grow, the devices are expected to serve as an increasingly dominant purchase channel. Creating tablet-optimized shopping experiences through the app and browser should be a top priority for merchants and other parties looking to capitalize on the growth of mobile online payments. Vendors and merchants are challenged to seamlessly integrate mobile into the online and in-store search and shopping experience.

Mary Monahan, Executive Vice President and Director of mobile at Javelin Strategy & Research, says  "… mobile consumer purchasing habits… evolving from purely app- or browser-based purchasing toward both methods in tandem… critical for vendors to ensure that the user experience is similar for both methods so that crossover is frictionless…

This report provides an in-depth study of the mobile purchasing market, including dollar and consumer market sizing of online, app and proximity payments, a five-year forecast of mobile proximity payments, tablet vs. phone dollar market sizing, and frequency and size of median purchases, as well as commerce by device type.

Find access to purchase the complete report from Javelin here.