Office supply retailer Staples is launching next week an e-commerce site optimizes for shopping on a tablet. Tablet users will be automatically redirected to the site, which has been designed for touchscreen interactions. The reason, Brian Tilzer, VP of e-commerce and business development at Staples.com, told Direct Marketing News: "Mobile is really a game-changer and it gives us the opportunity to fundamentally make shopping easier."

Other Retailers to Follow

Staples is hardly alone. 63.3% of e-retailers surveyed by Internet Retailer are considering a similar move, if not a new site, then at least optimizing their site for tablet shopping.  39.1% want to create a single site that renders depending on the device, 24.5% plan to rework site navigation for touchscreens and 17.3% will remove from their sites Flash.

Most Have Used Tablet as Purchasing Device

It is a smart investment, based on statistics that show the majority (63%) of tablet owners have made a purchase using their device, compared to just 31% of smartphone owners. This was one of the findings in a study released in November 2011 by Jumptap in partnership with comScore.

Data from Wave Two of "Understanding Mobile Audience" indicates that although purchasing is most widespread among PC owners (83%), younger tablet device users are closing the gap.

Indeed, 79% of tablet owners aged 18-34 report having made a purchase using their device, compared to 89% of PC users and 51% of smartphone users of that age. While purchasing is popular among all generations of PC users, the proportion of owners purchasing from tablets and smartphones is more segmented along generational lines: 50% of tablet owners aged 35-54 have made a purchase compared to 43% aged over 55, while 27% of smartphone users have made a purchase compared to just 12% aged over 55.