Tablets were on almost every holiday gift giving guide last month and those that haven’t made the jump into “Tablet-land” sure are jealous when they see their iPad-touting friends walking around. By 2014, approximately 90 million Americans will use a tablet device, with the iPad leading the way.
Here are some stats on this ever-changing, popular technology:
- Asian-Americans and Hispanics are the largest early adapters of tablet technology. 12.6% of Hispanics and 14.4% of Asian-Americans use tablets.
- 39.5% of tablet users planned on researching home décor from their tablets during the 2011 holiday season. 26.3% said they would use it to make a home décor purchase.
- eMarketer estimates that this year, 31.5% of tablet users are ages 18 to 34, while 55.5% are 35 or older.
What does this mean for retail? Tablets are changing how people interact with technology in their every day lives. They are replacing laptops, books and in some cases, cameras (on a recent vacation, I witnessed a tourist taking all of his photos with an iPad). According to a recent article Tablets, Smartphones Redefining The Retail Shopping Experience on MacNews.com, tablets and smartphones are also redefining the retail shopping experience and will be a $5 billion market per year in the U.S. by 2015.
Many retailers are starting to utilize this new technology on their showroom floor. Rooms to Go, an independent home furnishings store, has been using tablets to create a better customer experience. Instead of having to lead customers over to a kiosk for orders, Rooms to Go sales associates can now engage the consumer in the room setting they wish to purchase. Associates no longer have to run around the showroom looking for SKUs, they can pull the information up through their Rooms to Go app. View the YouTube video on how Rooms to Go is utilizing this technology at: http://tinyurl.com/rooms2go.
With tablets still considered a fairly new technology, the growth, excitement and ideas to utilize this technology will continue to grow. Many industry technology providers are looking at new ways to integrate tablet technology into their Point of Sale systems. How else do you envision tablets changing the retail environment?
Leave your comments on how you think tablets will influence retail in the future.
