Smartphone becomes the number one shopping device

Online shopping via smartphone is on the rise.Mobile commerce is unstoppable. Mobile devices, especially smartphones, are playing an increasingly important role for search, social and display channels. Display ads now even convert best on mobile. Almost 60 percent of all conversions are achieved via smartphones. Compared to the previous year, this is an increase of more than 25 percent. This is one of the findings of the annual Performance Marketer's Benchmark Report* from Marin Software. The report provides data on the performance of search, social and display advertising by end device.

Source: Marin SoftwareFor a long time, mobile devices were mainly used as information devices for online shopping. Users made their purchases later on their desktop. This trend is over. In the display channel, the smartphone's share of conversions has increased significantly over the last year, reducing the share of desktop. If tablets are also included, two out of three buyers now come via mobile advertising. The trend towards mobile is most clearly visible with display.Social ads convert almost as well on mobile as on desktopIn the social channel, the mobile conversion rate is now almost as high as for desktop and has increased by six percent compared to the previous year. At 49%, it is almost on a par with desktop. It can be assumed that this trend will continue and exceed the 50 percent mark before the end of the year, while the proportion of conversions coming from smartphones has also grown in search engine marketing. This has risen by ten percent compared to the previous year and now stands at 33 percent. This means that every third purchase is now made via an internet-enabled phone. However, this growth is no longer mainly coming from desktops, but from tablets. This indicates that the split between mobile and desktop in search is apparently stabilizing and that the growth of mobile in this channel is slowing down. "Each channel has its pros and cons. Advertisers should start using all channels and devices according to their respective strengths. This is because a comprehensive approach to digital marketing that addresses the target group across all channels and devices can achieve better results," says Bert Bröske, Marketing Director EMEA, Marin Software. "Due to the increasing importance of mobile, marketers should definitely rethink - from web-centric to app-centric."*The Performance Marketer's Benchmark Report Quarter 2 2016 is based on the worldwide Marin Global Online Advertising Index, which analyzed more than 7.8 billion dollars worth of ads managed via the Marin platform over the past five quarters. The index consists mainly of large companies that spend more than one million dollars annually on the advertising channels search, display, social and mobile. The key performance indicators (KPIs) were measured on an annual and quarterly basis.The Performance Marketer's Benchmark Report from Marin Software stands for Download available.