• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, March 25, 2015

PCs still rule for online shopping but mobile is coming up fast.

While a slight majority (52%) of total online commerce traffic comes from the desktop, nearly half (47%) now comes from smartphones and tablets, based on a new study.

Compared to a year ago, the overall number of visits to commerce sites increased 12%, according to the shopping index by Demandware, which analyzed the activities of more than 100 million online shoppers.

More consumers are turning to their phones to shop, accounting for 33% of all online traffic and 16% of orders, which is consistent with other research.

In the no-surprise department, 21% of shoppers used multiple devices, up from 14% a year ago, with the most popular combination being a PC and smartphone. Last year, it was a PC and tablet.

What’s interesting here is the trend.

The smartphone share of orders increased 61% and traffic increased 40%. Meanwhile, visits by computer decreased 16%.

The other interesting perspective is how tablet traffic is being overshadowed, with more than two times the visits now coming from phones. And orders from the two devices are almost equal, a big change from just a year ago, likely aided by larger smartphone screens.

Online shopping intent seems strong, with the rate at which consumers add products to their shopping carts up 13%. On the other side, the conversion rate of purchasing is down 4%.

In the interesting tidbits department, Demandware found the average time spent per online site visit is at 10 minutes, whether by smartphone or PC.

As context, a recent study by Euclid found that most shoppers stay in physical stores for 26 minutes, as I wrote about here recently (Most Stay in Stores 26 Minutes; Not the 5-Minute Shopper).

While Apple still leads in average order value and spending, Android now drives 21% of all orders, an increase of 39% from a year earlier.

And to serve mobile customers, many of whom are attracted to deals, many merchants did not disappoint. Almost half (42%) of all orders included a discount, according to the Demandware study. Additional, 69% of all orders shipped for free.

And that’s the deal.