It’s estimated that by the end of 2017, over 2 billion mobile or tablet users will have made a purchase on one of those hand-held devices. Mobile shopping is quickly becoming a more critical component of eCommerce shopping for online consumers.

In the last 6 months, 62% of smartphone users have made a purchase from their mobile device. Currently, 19% of e-commerce sales in the US are represented by purchases made on a mobile device. Around 30% of e-commerce sales will be made by smartphone users in 2018, with that number expected to increase year-over-year for the foreseeable future.

Even customers that aren’t purchasing from their smartphones are utilizing them in some way to make a purchase decision. Approximately 84% of mobile shoppers use their smartphones to make purchase decisions while inside stores.

Some other ways that smartphones are being used are:

• to look at online reviews
• compare product specs
• Search for deals or coupons

Aside from those uses for smartphones, 95% of mobile users look up local information on a business to either call or visit that location.

In Deloitte’s holiday survey for 2017, it was found that the majority of holiday spending would be done online for the first year ever! Respondents of this study planned to spend approximately 51% of their budget online with 55% of respondents shopping online for gifts. There was also a 59% probability of converting a smartphone shopper to a purchaser, indicating the importance for retailers to have their website optimized for mobile visitors.

It was also found that 36% of smartphone users planned to use a mobile payment app for their holiday shopping like PayPal, Apple Pay, etc.

These statistics indicate not only the trend of users to utilize their mobile devices for initial research, but the use of their phones to make purchases, increase the likelihood of conversions, and even pay in person.

Other key statistics from this study are:

• 40% of consumers anticipate using a retailers app
• About 1/3 of shoppers anticipate using a mobile payment app

ECommerce continues to become more relevant than in-store shopping, and mobile shopping will slowly overtake typical eCommerce shopping. As retailers continue to create their own apps and sell products on social media (Instagram and Pinterest have become critical for some e-retailers), and consumers depend on handheld devices to make purchase decisions, the importance of these features and mobile optimization becomes more critical.