Surging M-Commerce Could Eclipse $25 Billion in Sales in 2013, comScore Forecasts

In a sign of the increasing significance of mobile commerce in the U.S. economy, comScore Inc. reported on Tuesday that remote m-commerce sales totaled $10.6 billion in the first half of the year, or about 10% of total online volume, including desktop e-commerce.

ComScore forecasts that online spending on mobile devices could eclipse $25 billion for the year, given the expected swelling of volume during the holiday period in the fourth quarter. This would surpass last year’s total of $20.1 billion by at least 24%.

For the second quarter alone, m-commerce sales came to $4.7 billion, up 24% over the $3.8 billion recorded in the year-ago quarter. First-half sales jumped 28% over the first six months of 2012, which yielded $8.3 billion in volume.

\”While mobile devices are already extremely influential in the overall buying process, they are also beginning to drive a meaningful percentage of digital commerce,\” said Gian Fulgoni, chairman of Reston, Va.-based comScore, in a statement. \”One out of every ten consumer e-commerce dollars is now spent using either a smart phone or a tablet, and growth in this segment of the market is outpacing that of traditional e-commerce by a factor of 2x, which itself is growing at rates in the mid-teens. It would appear that m-commerce spending has reached enough of a critical mass that key stakeholders must begin to address this new market dynamic today or risk losing competitive advantage.\”

New with Tuesday’s report is a breakdown of m-commerce activity by product category and device. While accounting for less volume than smart phones, tablets yield higher average tickets, comScore’s data show. With desktop commerce controlling 90.4% of digital sales, smart phones account for a 6% share and tablets for 3.5%.

“While smart phone users outnumber tablet users by a factor greater than 2x, the average spending per device owner is actually 20% higher on tablets,” says a commentary accompanying the data. “This is likely a function of the platform\'s higher income demographics and its greater similarity to the desktop experience due to its larger screen size.”

Event tickets accounted for the most m-commerce volume in the first half, with a 15.4% share of overall digital commerce. Here, sales on smart phones claimed 10.9%, with tablets yielding a 4.5% share. Apparel came in second, with on overall m-commerce share of 9.7%–6.2% on smart phones and 3.5% on tablets.