The Online Retail Monitor, a report designed by Google and the British Retail Consortium to measure the performance of online and multi-channel retailers, released its first quarter findings last week, according to MarketingWeek.
The report, which looks primarily at the U.K.'s ecommerce traffic, found that retail searches via mobile devices were up 181 per cent year-over-year during the first quarter of 2011, the media outlet notes.
In addition, 11 per cent of all retail searches came from mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, and total search engine inquiries were up 29 per cent from 2010.
Furthermore, multi-channel retailers - those with both online and brick-and-mortar locations - reported a 42 per cent increase in searches, compared to 19 per cent for those solely selling online.
Peter Gold, head of Europe, Middle East and Africa cross border retail at real estate firm CBRE, explained to InternetRetailing that the presence of a physical store makes it easier for a retailer to operate an online platform.
"Not only is the store a place for buying or viewing a product, it is also the location where consumers go to pick up goods that have been bought online," Gold added.
An increasing amount of ecommerce retailers are testing new markets through online offerings, with the intention of opening physical stores later on,
the news source explains.
Subscribe