CHART: Online shoppers use multiple devices to complete their purchases

Smartphones now account for a greater share of mobile commerce purchases than tablets, according to data from Custora.

However the path to a purchase begins long before someone clicks “buy.” And, as it turns out, 41% of e-commerce purchases made on a smartphone begin with a shopping session that occurred on either a PC or tablet, according to a recent study from Barilliance compiled in the chart below by BI Intelligence.

Here is how consumers use multiple devices to ultimately make a purchase:

• For purchases made on a smartphone, 59% originated on that device, 31% originated from browsing on a PC, and 10% from browsing on a tablet.
• For purchases that were completed on a tablet, 79% originated on that device, 16% from browsing on a PC, and 5% from browsing on a smartphone.
• For purchases made on a PC, 95% originated on that device, 3% from browsing on a tablet, and just 2% from browsing on a smartphone.

Barilliance collected the data by sending emails to consumers immediately after they abandoned their online shopping cart, so the data applies particularly to conversions driven by retargeted emails. Barilliance defines the conversion device as “the device on which the email was opened and resulted in a purchase,” whereas the browsing origin is “the device on which the original session happened.” BI Intelligence is a subscription tech research service, covering the e-commerce industry. For full access to all our reports and downloadable charts, get started with a free trial.

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This story originally appeared on Business Insider. Copyright 2014