Battle of the channels: The impact of tablets on digital commerce

摘要

With more tablets being sold than smartphones, firms need to understand the economic impact of the tablet channel in e-commerce. The article examines the extent to which the tablet channel substitutes or complements the existing PC and smartphone channels, as well as how simultaneous use of multiple devices affects changes in overall sales. Data for the study was large-scale archival data from a four-year sampling period from the world's largest digital commerce firm, Alibaba, specifically, its website, Taobao. It was found that each consumer spends 6.7% more on Taobao, on average, after adopting the iPad. The results also show that browsing activity across users increased by 5.5%, on average, after iPad adoption. With regard to the cross-channel impact of tablets, it was found that sales through the smartphone channel increased by 55.6%, whereas sales through the PC channel decreased by 14.5% after users began using iPads to access Taobao. Thus tablet channel acts as a substitute for the PC channel, whereas it acts as a complement for the smartphone channel. Furthermore, the adoption of tablets spurs casual browsing, which leads to the purchase of more impulse products and a wider diversity of products. Further cross device browsing behavior enhances sales outcomes and the degree of interrelationship between devices varies across the course of the day. (56 refs.)