Study Finds Smartphones to drive Increase in eCommerce, Grow to $250 Billion by 2020

A new study by package delivery and logistics company UPS has found that mobile eCommerce is projected to make up 48.5 percent of all retail eCommerce — worth about $250 billion annually — by 2020.

The 2017 UPS “Pulse of the Online Shopper” study, released June 2017, has found that smartphones will drive the growth in mobile eCommerce and will increase in popularity by 2020, projecting that 17 percent of all transactions will be started on a smartphone.

“In terms of discretionary spending, mobile commerce (mCommerce) growth is far outpacing eCommerce and brick-and-mortar [sales],” the study said.

The report also found a seven percent increase in online purchases by smartphone since 2015, far outpacing both desktop and tablet usage. Where smartphones grew from 41 percent to 48 percent in online purchases among all device users, tablet use decreased from 46 percent to 39 percent. Desktop, while still dominating at 93 percent in 2017, experienced a three-point decrease from 96 percent in 2015.

Smartphones also experienced the most growth in terms of user satisfaction, increasing eight points from 65 in 2015 to 73 percent in 2017. While still a few points behind tablets and desktops, at 78 percent and 86 percent respectively in 2017, neither online shopping device match more than half the smartphone’s satisfaction growth rate. In-store purchases ranked lowest in satisfaction at a still-impressive 65 percent.

“[Consumers] are shifting away from PCs because they value the ability of their smartphones to quickly handle shopping needs,” the study said, “convenience and accessibility drive smartphone usage, while the multipurpose nature of this device and its ‘always on’ power result in significant gains in satisfaction scores.”

These factors contribute to a 45 percent increase reported for mobile retail spending, the study says.

A total of 5,189 respondents were interviewed via online panel by an independent research firm, comScore. Data collection occurred between January 10 and February 28, 2017, the report said. Twenty percent of respondents had made 2-3 purchases in the past three months, 40 percent had made 4-6 purchases in the last 3 months and 40 percent had made 7+ purchases in the past 3 months.

The study’s executive summary can be accessed here.