Tablets, once thought to be mere entertainment consumption devices, are taking the mobile commerce world by storm. Even as tablet sales themselves have started to slow down, mobile commerce conducted through tablets is ramping up big time. You need to familiarize yourself with the way tablet based ecommerce has been trending or you are in danger of being caught without a key sales platform!

Tablets Are Everywhere

The first compelling bit of information you should know: tablets are all over the place. In the U.S., nearly 30% of homes own a tablet of some kind. That’s 81 million people that actually own the tablet, and many more that actually use them regularly (think tablets shared amongst family members). Worldwide, tablet sales ownership is expected to increase five-fold by 2017. In short, more people are using tablets in their daily lives than ever before, and that trend is expected to continue into the foreseeable future.

Customers Will Judge You Based on Their Tablets

Here’s a stat that could potentially be frightening for ecommerce merchants who haven’t put much thought into tablet strategy: 77% of tablet owners report that a sub-optimal tablet experience will affect their willingness to buy from an ecommerce site. If you are partnered with an ecommerce platform like Shopify or Bigcommerce then you have the option to switch on mobile-optimized stores, but even then if you do not have a tablet-friendly design then your website can be a liability.

People Use Tablets For All Facets Of Online Shopping

Right up front, you should know that 31% of tablet owners will use their device for purchases in 2014. That means, if you don’t have a tablet-optimized presence, then you will miss out on over 25 million potential customers. But actually buying from a tablet is not the only shopping behavior device owners engage in. These behaviors are many and varied, but consider that 66% use tablets to research purchases before buying on a desktop, 63% use tablets to check prices, and 54% use them to read ratings and reviews. The implications of not focusing on a tablet-based audience add up very, very quickly.

But Here’s The Good News!

All of these powerful stats that punish those individuals who haven’t upped their tablet game offer major rewards for businesses that have! You can immediately capture the value of tablet commerce by offering a tablet-optimized website and mobile app. That pairing will provide the optimum benefit for both new and returning customers, keep them happy and making you profitable!

Special thanks to Usablenet and Get Elastic for sharing this fantastic infographic that contained many of the stats used in this post!