Latest Internet Mobile Stats Trends

Latest Internet Mobile Stats Trends

share of web traffic by device

web trafic by device

Based on the latest Internet Mobile Stats Trends, digital trends reports by “We are Social” shows that mobile has now reached the pivotal point and accounts for 55% of all web access.

Smartphones and Tablets combined account for 55%. That is more that a 30% increase in mobile usage year-on-year. At the same time desktop and laptops fell by 20% and now account for only 45% of web traffic. This is good news for travel websites that are mobile optimized for bookings.

The information is provided by TheNextWeb – It also noted that Social media has grown by eight percent year-on-year and now has a total penetration of 37 percent. That means that 2.539 billion of all 2.789 billion social media users came from mobile.

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For those who are interested in statistics on the world wide use of the internet by country, distribution of population user population see Internet Trends 2017. Stats & Facts in the U.S. and Worldwide

Of particular interest in this report is the smartphone penetration. It is 57% in North America. All other region in the chart outpace the US and Canada by a significant margin.Smartphone penetration worlwide

Travel Research and Booking go Mobile [Infographic] |

Travel Research and Booking go Mobile [Infographic] |

OperaMedia surveyed 1,000 mobile users in the U.S. across our mobile ad platform to find out. They found that Travel Research and Booking go Mobile as more Americans are using mobile to research and book travel. Here is the infographic of what else they found :Source: Mobile is #1 for travel research and booking [Infographic] |

Opera sees “mobile users shifting to spending more time in app vs. mobile web,” which is interesting as just a few months ago similar studies showed the opposite, with more travelers using mobile web to plan and book travel. At the same time we saw the Mobile apps replacing the web for many options. One needs to understand the data deeply. The apps are not what travelers look at for individual hotels- they look at 20 to 30 sites and are not going t download and app for every site.

Apps are great for comparing option and getting other services. The main apps i see travelers using are apps from OTAs like bookings.com etc. That makes sense as one app shows them pretty well all the hotels they might like, but many travelers still look at the hotel websites before they book. To compete in this landscape hotel need to beef up their direct booking benefits.

Opera sees more happening with apps in the future as they say what makes sense for hotels is  Perhaps a mobile concierge app.”

“Similar to a real concierge, this hypothetical app would key into the traveler’s location, food preferences, interests, hobbies and more – essentially becoming the “one-stop shop” for all mobile travel activities. The app would provide suggestions for dining, entertainment and lodging, among other things. This could provide opportunities for other apps, such as Uber for example, to place an ad: “It’s almost time for dinner! Need an Uber?”

 

For more on how to boost direct booking on your website see

http://allcastmarketing.blogspot.ca/2016/06/how-hotels-are-matching-otas-with.html

 

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Mobile web beats apps for hotel bookings

Mobile web beats apps for hotel bookings

A study of 2,000 US smartphone owners has found they are more likely to book a hotel room using the mobile than an app.

Source: Mobile web beats apps when it comes to hotel bookings – Tnooz

It really is not rocket science and it does not take much effort to understand that travelers are not going to download an app for every hotel they consider or check out during the planning stage. They look at 20 differed sites on average and will consider a dozen places to stay. The just are not going to download and app to check availability and rates when they can just look at the website.

Mobile Web  Prefered over Apps for Booking

The study by Miller Brown, referred to in the Tnooz article above demonstrates that Mobile web beats apps for hotel bookings.  In the study only 15% of all who booked a hotel in the study period used their smartphone to book and most booked via mobile browsing. 43% said they preferred to browse to book, 28% were split between apps and browsing and 28% preferred to use an app.

Its not clear how they booked and my guess is that most were using OTAs or hooked into a chain with loyalty points.  If they book direct common sense will tell us that they will browse the hotel website and check out rates online via the browser. The Study  also tells us that while over 30% of the travelers studied had over 30 apps, they only used about 4 a day.

Apps for Loyalty and Recurring Booking

“One of the things we found is that in travel, and in general, app install and usage is one measure of loyalty or brand engagement. You’ve (essentially) committed to the brand.” Says Lincoln Merrihew SVP of Miller Brown,  and adds: “In general, older consumers tend to be more brand-committed than younger ones.”

Apps are used mostly for services like fast check out, billing, room key, loyalty programs, concierge and room services and to control the room TV, temperature order services and get offers. For online information, reservations and booking your provider should offer a mobile version; that’s all you need. If you have a custom built booking engine make sure it is mobile responsive. All this may change and likely will but for now mobile browsing is not overpowered by apps. I think apps have to offer much more for all to want to download them for every hotel we want to check. Cant see it happening any time soon.

eMarketers Forcast Mobile Booking Surpass Desktop in 2016

mobile travel booking expected to be over 51% in 2016
What there is no doubt about is the growing use of mobile in travel planning and booking. According to eMarketer 51.8% of travelers who book trips online will do so using a mobile device. That is up 43.8% from the 2015 estimates. They add that “In 2015, travel sales booked via PCs will be $115.91 billion—a decline of 1.8% from 2014. That decline will continue through at least 2019, the end of eMarketer’s forecast period.” – See more at: http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1013248#sthash.9VxWmZ8H.dpuf – 

Travel sales booked via mobile are $52.08 billion this year (November 2015) representing 31.0% of digital travel sales. Booking via mobile is expected to reach to 46.0% by 2019.

Not at all surprising, at the Barbados Tourism Encyclopedia (Barbados.org) the bulk of site visits are now from travelers using a mobile device.

Mobile Gets Traffic, But Desktop Gets Bookings

Mobile Gets Traffic, But Desktop Gets Online Sales 01/07/2015.

Mobile Got Traffic, But Desktop Gets Online Sales

by Jack Loechner,

The rise of Mobile was no exception over the Christmas shopping period, but shoppers are still preferring the desktop for making a purchase. This article puts it into perspective with actual stats and insight on the trends and the channel.

“People are browsing and buying more on mobile… ” says Jay Henderson, director of IBM Smarter Commerce, “… but they’re browsing and buying even more on desktops… it’s easier to input personal information there… and there are product categories… often higher-priced items… that are easier to inspect on a larger screen…”

Traffic on desktop PCs were 43% of traffic on e-commerce sites during Xmas, but they accounted for 2/3 of online sales for the day. Average order values were $107.72 on desktop compared to $88.70 on mobile devices.

Mobile devices clocked 57.1% of online traffic to retail sites on Christmas Day, an increase of 18.6 percentage points from a year earlier, and 34.8% of sales, up 20.4 percentage points.

According to the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark, reported by DMNNews, shoppers who have grown more comfortable with shopping and buying on mobile devices powered an increase of more than 8% in online sales this Christmas Day. Mobile purchases alone rose 20% and accounted for 35% of total sales.

Interestingly Apple IOS is taking the bulk of the mobile eCommerce with 27% of online sales, approx. 4 times that of Android (under 8%). The reason may be that it is easier for people to navigate and buy on iOS.

For more information see te full report and statistics at http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/241068/mobile-got-traffic-but-desktop-gets-online-sales.html

Mobile Bookings are Exploding – Travel Weekly

Consumer Trends 2014: Explosion in mobile bookings – Travel Weekly.

According to Travel Weekly’s 2014 Consumer Trends survey, the percentage of travelers who have used a mobile device to purchase travel surged, from 23% in 2012 to 38% in 2014.

PhoCusWright studies shows that consumers are mostly using their mobile devices for shopping which is far greater than those who book on a mobile device. PhocusWright also notes bookings are rising, with hotels and car rentals leading the way. Rose predicts that by the end of 2014, 50% of Americans will have booked some kind of travel product on a mobile device.

The phone tablet mobile device (a cross between a smartphone and a tablet — the “phablet”) — is expected to lead to an explosion in travel bookings.

Mobile Payments the New Frontier in Bookings – Mobile Commerce Daily – Payments

Starbucks and Apple: Mobile payments’ sleeping giants? – Mobile Commerce Daily – Payments.

Tradition vs Opportunity in Travel

To me it is not about who is the big guns in hand held payments, because mobile-pay will be ubiquitous and it will not matter. What is important is how it will impact hotels and tourism suppliers. To be sure TripAdvisor is looking at this closely with its new mobile app, but has got stuck with partnering with the traditional distributors like Expedia and booking.com. It’s all old school and not a big priority for OTAs as they already have their own systems.

A New Gateway to direct Bookings

What is different is now we may have more open payment gateways, available to small companies like hotels and tourism operators, and that opens up more opportunities for direct bookings.

Apple & Starbucks: Handling your Cards

Apple is talking about mobile payments with Visa and other credit card companies and maybe the company’s entry into the mobile gateway for payments is imminent. Apple controls hundreds of millions of cards and devices that can be linked to those cards,” he said. “They are perfectly positioned to be a key player in the space.

Starbucks is already in that space with mobile payments now accounting for over 15 percent of transactions in its stores. However, translating this success into a technology platform for other merchants could be a challenge.

Apple already has credit card account data for millions of consumers through iTunes. Its mobile loyalty app Passbook is well placed with with both merchants and consumers adopting it. Thrive Analytics found that 17% of consumers have used Passbook and 60%say that they use Passbook weekly compared to 49 percent for Google Wallet and 40 percent for PayPal (see story).

Apple – Is it talk no play, no pay, in mobile travel?

One word on the comment that apple is talking not doing and some question if it will actually move ahead. My take is that Apple will move ahead when it’s ready, and as it has done many times will take a commanding lead. It does not have to be the leader, it was not with iPod; sonny was with its MP3 players, but apple understood the users needs, with a vision far beyond other players … the rest is history.