• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, October 5, 2012

According to a new report by Javelin Strategy & Research, consumers spent more than $20.7 billion shopping using mobile devices, with approximately $5 billion of mobile purchases made through tablets last year. With holiday shopping and other driving forces, the number of people owning tablets is expected to more than double within the next three years.

Consumers spend an average of $10 more per purchase using a tablet compared to the average purchase made through a mobile device, says the report. Even within the tablet world, there are noticeable differences between amount, type, and frequency of purchases made by Kindle Fire and Apple iPad owners.

Mary Monahan, Executive Vice President and Research Director, Mobile at Javelin, says “... increasingly mobile devices like tablets are being used as shopping tools... Apps engage consumers to make purchases... retailers must... convert browsers into buyers.”

The mean spend per purchase over a digital channel is $31.64, and the median spend per purchase over a digital channel is $16.31, according to the report. The average total amount spent per month by a consumer is the typical dollar amount spent per purchase multiplied by the typical number of times each consumer makes a purchase. This is not the same as the average amount spent per purchase by a consumer.

The total size of the mobile retail commerce market in 2012 is $20.7 billion. The proportion of the total market size in dollar amounts for each purchasing channel varies among populations. Because of the higher average spend per purchase and slightly higher frequency per month made by consumers purchasing only through the browser, total dollar purchases make up 31% of the total dollar spend over mobile channels, but only 27% of the online mobile commerce population.

To purchase the report, or access a free proprietary sample from Javelin Strategy & Research, please visit here.