'E-commerce websites to have a tablet by 2014'

MUMBAI, INDIA: By 2014, 95 per cent of e-commerce websites will have a tablet or e-reader presence, according to Gartner Inc. The IT research firm, however, said in a press release that that 40 per cent will fail due to a lack of customer-understanding of their usage

E-commerce organizations are being lured by the appeal of tablets and e-readers. E-commerce tablet and e-reader applications are nascent and evolving quickly, creating a new set of selling options for organizations.

“It's crucial for organizations to understand what type of buying experience is needed by their users for tablet- and e-reader-based sales,” said Gene Alvarez, research vice president at Gartner.

“They will need to determine how many devices they will support, as they will be faced with not only supporting browsers and tablets, but also other mobile customer touchpoints.” he said.

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As a result, an organization's analysis of its customer base, and its usage of various different touchpoints are critical to its success in the new mobile world, Alvarez continued.

Over the next three to five years, next-generation of iPad and tablet usage by marketers for internal tasks will focus on the development of existing or new applications to be fully used on the tablet, as opposed to partial functionality from existing applications used in the office.

Gartner also said that by 2016, 50 per cent of all major marketing automation vendors will develop applications specifically for Apple's iPad.

As more consumers purchase and use media tablets, such as the iPad, they are becoming increasingly prevalent in the workplace and enterprise vendors are responding accordingly.

“The initial use of iPads and tablets by marketers will be the extension of existing marketing applications, such as campaign management and marketing resource management (MRM) functionality, to be supported by the device, either disconnected or connected to the network and home-based application,” said Kimberly Collins, managing vice president at Gartner.