Compared to email (2.82%) and social media (1.55%), search (31.43%) is easily the primary driver of direct e-commerce traffic, according to [download page] the latest quarterly report from Monetate covering Q1 activity. That's the way it has been for some time now, and probably will be for the foreseeable future, at least when considering that the share of e-commerce traffic coming from both social and email decreased in Q1 compared to a year earlier. But the researchers make a valid point that is bolstered by other recent studies: these findings are based on a last-touch attribution model, which typically undervalues social's role significantly. Read more »

Fresh off a research release showing that webrooming is actually far more common amongst Millennials than showrooming, new statistics from xAd and Telmetrics demonstrate that retailers' concerns over showrooming may be unnecessary. According to new data released from the "Mobile Path to Purchase" study specific to the retail sector, just 6% of smartphone users conducted their most recent mobile retail search in-store. What's more, that figure doesn't vary much among different retail categories, ranging from 4.7% of apparel shoppers to 7.1% of electronics shoppers. Read more »