16 Jan 12

2012 - the year of the Tablet?

by Laura Fenton, Digital Planner/Buyer

With global shipments of consumer tablets tripling in 2011 – hitting an all time high of 15.5 million between July and September (compared with 4.5 million during the same months in 2010), is 2012 set to be the year of the tablet? Certainly Futuresource Consulting’s Tablet Tracking Report, which cited these numbers helps to substantiate this notion.

Whilst Europe has recorded a 300% growth in tablet purchases year on year, the US is undoubtedly ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to tablet purchases – accounting for 46% of global tablet adoption with more than 24 million devices. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Apple continues to dominate the global tablet market, however competition from other brands including Acer and Samsung are starting to become more prominent in certain markets.

According to research conducted by IMRG and eDigitalResearch, the number of consumers using their tablet device over Christmas Day and Boxing Day doubled from 4 to 8% in 2011 in the UK. Given the current popularity of social networking sites, it is probably also unsurprising to hear that the same research discovered a record number of users (45%) logged into social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter over these two days. This figure is over double what it was in 2010. This makes it clear that there are real opportunities for brands to engage the consumer through both tablet and social media channels over the coming months. Furthermore, the uptake of tablets is expected to continue increasing, mainly due to major sporting events such as the Olympics in 2012 (driving demand for connection whilst on the move in order to keep up to date with results and watch live content) and declining tablet prices of the coming months/years.

From an online shopping perspective, the same research also discovered that 71% of consumers carried out Christmas shopping online, with almost one third of smartphone users confirming 50% of their Christmas shopping research was carried out on their mobile phone. As tablet adoption increases amongst consumers, it is likely we will see a similar trend on these mobile devices as well. In fact, according to the Logan Tod & Co.’s 6th Annual Online Future Shopping Index, 14% of respondents confirmed they used a tablet for online purchases last Christmas.

It really does seem that mobile shopping is at last coming of age and the popularity of the tablet is undoubtedly playing an important role; its incredibly fast growth and function as an online shopping tool providing a real opportunity for brands and retailers in 2012. The year of the tablet? I think so.