Tablet Traffic Will Exceed Smart Phone Traffic in 2013

Beginning with the launch of the iPad just over two years ago, tablets have been transforming the way consumers and brands interact on websites, Adobe says, after analyzing  23 billion visits to the websites of more than 325 brands across North America, Western Europe, and Asia-Pacific.

The share of website visits from tablets grew approximately 10 times faster than the rate of
smartphones within two years of market introduction and grew more than 300 percent in 2011.

Tablet share of website traffic will exceed smartphone traffic by early 2013 and reach 10 percent of total website traffic in early 2014.

Also, although consumers consider the tablet website experience to be nearly as engaging as with PCs, they use PCs to visit websites three times as frequently as tablets. Still, usage will migrate in the direction of tablets.

Perhaps the most shocking prediction is that tablet traffic will surpass smart phone traffic within 12 months. Within one year of the iPad launch, (second quarter of  2010 through first quarter of 2011), tablet visits represented one percent of total website visits, reaching 4.3 percent of total visits just one year later, an increase of 330 percent, Adobe says.

In contrast, within the first two years of the iPhone market entry, smart phones accounted for 0.4 percent of total website visits, taking nearly three years to reach one percent of total visits.

At this faster growth rate, tablet visits will surpass smartphone visits by early 2013 and generate
over 10 percent of website visits in 2014.

On the other hand, consumers use PCs to visit websites much more frequently, even though tablet and PC engagement levels are similar.

In December 2011, there were approximately six times as many PCs as tablets in
North America and Western Europe, but they generated 19 times as many website visits during the first quarter of  2012.

For every brand website visit made with a tablet device, 3.2 visits are made using a PC.

Consumers consider tablets and PCs to be nearly interchangeable for media consumption and for repeated interactions with financial service providers. However, they are less likely to accomplish the purpose of these visits using smartphones. This suggests that consumers
consider tablets to be similar to PCs for visits that are repeated, routine and involve passive consumption of content.


In contrast, PC conversion rates are 30 percent to 60 percent higher than tablet conversion rates for retail and travel websites, suggesting that consumers prefer PCs for visits involving research, comparison of alternatives, and online purchasing.