Report: Mobile Travel Bookings Continue to Grow Worldwide
by Andrew Sheivachman /U.S. consumers are becoming more comfortable using their mobile devices to book travel, with smartphones like the iPhone leading the field in terms of usage.
A new report from Criteo has found that mobile travel bookings are continuing to surge, but are unlikely to disrupt traditional distribution modes in the near future.
Here are five takeaways for travel sellers from Criteo’s State of Mobile Commerce: Growing Like a Weed, Q1 2015.
Mobile is here to stay
In the U.S., mobile transactions grew 10% year over year in the first quarter of 2015, according to Criteo’s data.
Overall, mobile e-commerce now represents 34% of total global e-commerce. Those who book using a digital device, in other words, are rapidly embracing their mobile phones and tablet devices as a point of purchase.
The mobile vertical, however, accounted for about 27% of overall U.S. travel bookings in the first quarter of 2015. Almost a third of travel bookings in major countries around the world are now coming from mobile devices.
Only mass merchants and fashion had a higher share of mobile e-commerce transactions.
How are consumers buying?
Smartphones continue to be the leading device for mobile bookings.
In the U.S., 53% of e-commerce bookings took place on smartphones instead of tablet devices in the first quarter of 2015.
This is likely due to larger screen sizes on devices like the iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy which contributes to making them more comfortable for consumers who want to use their phone for important tasks.
A global view
Other countries far exceed the U.S. in mobile bookings.
Japan, for instance, has a full 90% of e-commerce bookings taking place on mobile phones. South Korea totals a whopping 99%.
Could U.S. consumers one day become as accustomed to booking on mobile as the Japanese?
Asian countries far outpace European and North and South American countries in terms of comfort with booking on a smartphone.
Iphones are the gold standard
Use of the iPhone for e-commerce transactions in the U.S. grew 12% over the last quarter. Now, almost 10% of U.S. e-commerce transactions take place on an iPhone.
iPhones accounted for 9.2% of travel e-commerce transactions, while Android smartphones accounted for 8.2%.
Mobile travel transactions are still relatively small
The relative spend of travel customers on their mobile devices, however, remains smaller than in other sectors.
For every $100 in travel bookings on the desktop computer, consumers are spending $85 on tablets and just $36 on their smartphones.
This reflects the obvious: consumers aren’t willing to book expensive trips without the ability to research on their computer or have the guidance of a travel agent.
It may also reflect growth of same-night hotel bookings using mobile apps while users are away from their desktop.