• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, September 2, 2014

As we get ready for a barrage of studies forecasting the scope of mobile commerce over the coming holiday season, the summer-ending and back-to-school shopping surveys are coming to a close.

In one of the last of the summer studies, mobile traffic, sales and order values all are up.

More than a third (38%) of traffic originated from a mobile device with almost one in five (18%) coming from a smartphone, based on a new benchmark report.

The monthly data from Affiliate Window is drawn from 3 million network transactions across 1,600 advertisers in the retail, travel and telecom sectors.

In its network, a third (33%) of sales started from a mobile device, the highest level since the monthly tracking started almost two years ago.

The average value of those sales also increased to $129, up from $111 in July.

Android smartphones accounted for more than a quarter (27%) of smartphone traffic and the same percentage of sales.

Some shoppers also appear to use Android tablets to shop but not to purchase. In the data analysis, Android tablets accounted for 31% of tablet traffic but only 18% of sales.

The reality is that consumers are using mobile devices for commerce beyond the actual purchase.

For example, the leading mobile uses before a shopping trip are making a list, searching for sales and comparison shopping, according to a recent back-to-school shopping study conducted for Thinknear by Telenav, which we wrote about here recently (Mobile Shoppers & 15-Mile Deal Limit).

We also know from numerous studies that most consumers want to make the purchase in a physical store.

No matter where the final purchase transaction occurs, smartphones, tablets and stores all have their place in the ecosystem of mobile commerce.

The challenge is to link and measure the links in the cycle to see which part contributes what to that final purchase decision.