Report: By 2018, retail sales made over a mobile device will equal $115 for each person on earth

Juniper Research has completed a study of retail sales conducted over a mobile device. What it found was that by 2018, $700 billion in sales will come from mobile devices. That will work out to $115 spent by every person estimated to be on the planet by then. Looking at the same stat in a different way, that $700 billion will equal 30% of all eCommerce for that year.

We can't judge these figures in a vacuum, so we will tell you that CRB Online computed that in 2013, mobile retail sales amounted to $182 billion, and accounted for 15% of eCommerce last year. That means we should see much growth ahead in this sector over the next few years.

We know what you're thinking. How can Juniper know what will happen in 2018, and the answer is, they can only make educated guesses. In fact, the research firm has lowered its estimate of 2018's mobile retail sales from a prediction it made two years ago.

Other topics covered in the report include showrooming, or the use of a mobile device to find a lower price for a product while physically viewing it inside a brick and mortar store. Juniper suggests that stores fight this by instituting price match guarantees. Juniper also computed that Cyber Monday brought in nearly $400 million in the U.S. in 2013.

source: CBR via FierceMobile