The tablet market will explode over the next five years with retail revenue increasing from US $34.5 billion in 2011 to US $121.5 billion in 2016, according to the latest research from Informa Telecoms & Media. According to another survey called Retail Embraces Tablets conducted by RISNews.com and co-sponsored by Motorola Solutions and RBM Technologies, more than half of retailer respondents plan to test tablets this year.
The survey found that the main drivers increasing retail interest in tablets were: support to sales in stores (51.9%), upgrading and modernization of sales experience (48%), the increase in sales compared with the competition in the same sector (46.3%) and the connection with business applications (42.6%).
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The survey also highlighted that, while only 6% of respondents say they currently use tablets in their stores, 28% are already testing the devices in stores and 31% plan to try them this year. The retailers are divided between those who want to use robust tablets and those who primarily want to use tablets that are economical and user-friendly.
Informa Telecoms & Media expects independent retailers to increase their share of smartphone retail revenues – its smartphone forecasts show the independent retailers’ share of smartphone retail revenues increasing from 29% in 2011 to 34% to 2016. “And we expect this trend to be even more prevalent in the tablet segment”, noted Julio Puschel, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media, in a recent article.
Puschel pointed out that tablets will drive significant changes to the current telecom retail business model. “Telecoms operators will need to watch the independent retailers closely to see how they are transferring their retail expertise to the smartphone and tablet market,” commented Puschel.
