Mobile shopping is growing and working for Amazon

As we noted last week, consumers have shifted more of their Amazon shopping to mobile devices, and away from desktop and laptop computers. Most of this mobile device shopping is on smartphones, with a small percentage of customers using tablet devices. The open question is, how does mobile shopping change consumer buying behavior? Do they buy differently when shopping on a phone? Do they wind up spending more or less than shoppers who use personal computers?

Our data suggests that the average order for customers using mobile devices and personal computers is virtually the same. The smaller screen does not inhibit buyers. Regardless of platform, their orders average 2.2 items totaling $45. (Table 1) The lever is shopping frequency. The ubiquity of smartphones seems to make it even easier for shoppers who use mobile devices to make purchases more often.