Tablets Overtake Mobiles for eCommerce

Tablets are widely known to be on the rise in popularity, and research released in June highlights that tablets are taking an increasingly higher share of online traffic. In fact between Q1 2011 and Q1 2012, website traffic to eCommerce sites from tablets grew by an astounding 348% according to Monetate (now Kibo), and now exceeds total smartphone visits – a figure that is also rising.

So with smartphone and tablet shares increasing, and PC shares decreasing, the mobile website experience is acquiring greater and greater importance for developers. Making a user experience that works across multiple devices is important, where consideration of not just the screen size, but also the capabilities of the device and how users interact with it are so vital.

Responsive Web Design

An increasingly popular method of dealing with the problem of building websites that work well across a range of screen resolutions and devices is responsive web design. Responsive web design is a technique used to make websites to work seamlessly between different screen sizes from a small 3.5 inch display on an iPhone to a 16 inch or more display on a laptop.

This approach to design on the web allows for content to adapt to best suit the way users interact with the device they’re using, and make the best use of the space available on their screen, be those handheld devices, full desktop displays or even projectors. This approach is something we’ve been using here and there at Wired Media for some time, and recently have adopted fully in some projects scheduled to roll onto your screens, large or small, in the coming weeks.