Just 12 months since outdoor accommodation specialist Pitchup.com launched its first mobile site and app, handheld devices have now become the key booking platform constituting 50% of sales.
The IMRG Capgemini Quarterly Benchmarking Report shows that between August and October 2014, 37% of online sales were made via a smartphone or tablet, up from 27% during the same period in 2013. However Pitchup.com far exceeds this industry trend, achieving 42% of its online sales via handheld devices during the period, a rise from 29% last year.
Commenting, founder of Pitchup.com Dan Yates says: “Previous reluctance to book via mobiles appears to be falling away as we saw 17% of consumers confidently booking holidays via mobile in the last quarter. With the industry standard for mobile bookings sitting at 8% of online sales, businesses should seriously consider smartphones as a primary sales driver.”
According to IMRG, ‘m-retail’ rose 11% from September to October 2014, the strongest monthly rise for this period since the mobile index launched in 2011**. The growth figures are supported by recent ABTA research showing that 18% of online bookers now book by tablet compared to 10% in 2013, and 13% by mobile (up from 17%), while desktop fell from 97% to 93%.
Yates continues “We believe Pitchup.com’s launch of a dedicated mobile site and apps last year has led to more than 53% of traffic over the past month coming from handheld devices – up from 28% last year – and during the first half of November, mobile and tablet bookings exceeded half of bookings for the first time.”
Pitchup.com reveals some of its top ‘m-retail’ stats, based on the last 12 months:
• The most popular day for people booking on the site via tablet is Sunday, while Monday is the preferred day for those using mobile or desktop.
• Those booking via tablet are likely to spend more, with the average value per tablet booking 4% higher than average. This compares to 2% higher for desktop bookings and 16% lower for mobile bookings.
• The average length of stay for a desktop customer is 3.2 nights, compared to 3.1 nights for tablet and 2.6 mobile.
• When looking at lead-in booking times, the average mobile phone booking is made 21 days in advance of stay. Tablet users on average book 29 days before arrival and desktop users an average of 30 days before arrival.
Dan Yates concludes: “These statistics have come as a surprise. While we always expected bookings via handheld devices to overtake desktop, previous trends suggested that this would not happen until next summer. Owners of new devices are clearly keen to put them through their paces: usage has intensified after tablet ownership almost doubled this year from 24% to 44% of UK adults, and smartphone ownership rose from 51% to 61%.
“This really shows the power of handheld devices. We saw indications of them performing well back in the summer but this is the first time that we’ve seen a sustained period where handheld bookings have exceeded desktop. With Christmas coming and even more people likely to own tablets come the New Year, bookings via these devices will no doubt surge further.”