As major retailers launch their own mobile friendly websites, and with mobile commerce tipped to be more significant than mobile advertising as a market driving force, shopping through our phones was always set to be a major trend. But just how important is mobile commerce in terms of shaping the mobile touch web?
Recent research from our friends at Taptu who have a base here in Lemon Studios, goes into great detail into how the mobile touch web is changing. As of the end of April 2010 the number of mobile touch web sites hit 440,100, up 35 percent from 326,600 at the end of December. This figure even astounded Taptu themselves, as the annual growth rate of 232 percent signals a total of around 1.1 million mobile touch web sites by the end of 2010 – a far bigger prediction than that of 500,000 made earlier in the year.
As for the number of touch-friendly sites recorded by the end of April, a 22.1 percent majority are commerce sites (categorized as ‘Shopping & Services’ by Taptu), with the second biggest piece of the mobile touch web pie being taken by sites of a Government & Non-Profit nature with seven percent of the share. Within the Shopping & Services category, Businesses & Brands such as Siemens, Yellow Pages and Ikea dominate with 9.5 percent, while Auto and Web Design are close behind with 6.8 and 6.7 percent share respectively.
The report highlights that whilst commerce sites are driving the growth of the mobile touch web sector, this trend is not entirely surprising. After all, many businesses and brands are seemingly savvy enough to know that if they spend the same amount of time and money on apps for either iPhone or Android then they are potentially neglecting a significant portion of consumers – and a good number of prospective customers.
Despite this, the number of iPhone and Android apps are continuing to grow too, though at varying rates. By April 2010 there were 185,000 apps available in the Apple App Store, signalling an annual growth rate of 144 percent. Yet, the Android Store is seeing a faster growth than both Apple and the mobile touch web with a recorded annual rate of 403 percent – with 35,947 apps available at the end of April.
The Taptu research comes at a time when a number of high profile companies are launching mobile touch web sites as opposed to branded shopping apps. Marks & Spencer are the latest to make this move, with their new mobile-friendly site boasting a simple quick-loading home page, easy-navigation to categories and a practical store finder. Subsequently, in terms of UK retailers, Marks & Spencer are something of pioneer in terms of embracing the mobile touch web. Though, with their high profile move to do so, and the latest research showing just how important commerce sites are to this fast-growing sector, it will certainly be interesting to see who will follow in their footsteps and how the sector will look at the end of the year.
