Tablet owners spend 4.4 hours per week shopping

Gap iPad Catalog

A recent article on Mobile Commerce Daily contains several interesting tablet commerce stats from the IAB UK.

Tablet owners spend 4.4 hours shopping on tablets versus only 2.9 hours on PCs and 2.2 hours on smartphones. Is this a shift in shopping behavior or are tablet users spending more time shopping? Either way, this is a very promising trend for retailers and e-commerce sites.

72% of tablet owners make a purchase each week

Including both virtual and physical goods, nearly three quarters of tablet owners make a purchase each week. Looking only at physical goods, 63% of users shopped on their tablet.

Is tablet commerce a niche market?

In the article, the IAB’s Alex Cozloff suggests that tablets are still a niche market: “At the moment, this is a niche audience but it will be interesting to see how it progresses as there are more tablet owners”.

But according to a recent Pew Research Center tablet survey , 19% of adults in the US own an iPad or other device.

If true, we can expect tablet commerce to emerge as a mainstream activity in 2012.

How will retailers adapt to tablet commerce?

To pre-order our Tablet Commerce guidebook, please fill out the form to the right. In the report, we’ll show you some best practices from early tablet pioneers including Amazon, eBay, Gilt Group, Anthropologie, Fab and others.