M-commerce spending on smartphones and tablets added $5.8 billion for the quarter, up 26 percent vs.a year ago, to make up a digital commerce spending total of $53.2 billion in the third quarter 2013, according to comScore's latest report. Of the additional $5.8 billion, purchasing using smartphones accounted for 62 percent vs. 38 percent from tablets. The total e-commerce sales for Q3 2013 grew 13 percent year-over-year to $47.5 billion, marking the sixteenth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and twelfth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth.
"Third quarter e-commerce spending grew 13 percent from a year ago, and although that marks a pretty healthy growth rate, it also represents a slight deceleration from the prior quarter,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “Other macroeconomic indicators also suggested relative softness in discretionary spending, which offers some cause for concern as we head into the holiday season. Although there was evidence of slightly diminished consumer confidence in Q3, a more optimistic take is that increased outlays on large purchases such as new homes and automobiles may have temporarily squeezed other discretionary consumer spending. That said, the trend could still spell a challenging holiday season for retailers this year – particularly given the highly compressed calendar between Thanksgiving and Christmas, which contains six fewer shopping days than last year and is the shortest shopping season since 2002. Nonetheless, we are confident that the growth rate in online spending will once again far exceed that in bricks and mortar stores, reflecting the ongoing channel shift to e-commerce.”Source - comScore (Nov 8, 2013)
