The 500 leading retailers in mobile commerce will see sales of $83.78 billion by the end, according to a new forecast from Internet Retailer.

Mobile sales will account for 21.2 percent of an estimated $394.71 billion in total web sales by retailers that make up Internet Retailer’s Mobile 500 list.

The figure also represents a 79.9 percent rise from the $46.56 billion in sales that the leading 500 mobile commerce brands achieved.

Highlights & Trends

Trends revealed in the report center around increased use of handheld devices, responsive design, and a rise in the number and prevalence of apps offered by m-commerce retailers.

1. Tablet Sales Outnumber Smartphone Sales, But Not For Long

Of the $83.78 billion mobile sales, 59 percent will be from tablet devices, and 41 percent from smartphones. However, as highlighted in the report:

“…many m-commerce experts predict that the rise of larger smartphones combined with ongoing mobile technology developments that make buying easier on smartphones — such as Apple opening up its biometric fingerprint scanner to developers to enable one-touch log-in and one-touch checkout — will tilt the mobile sales scales in favor of smartphones in the years to come.”

2. Big Rise In Responsive Design

The number of retailers in the Mobile 500 with responsive design websites increased 164 percent in comparison. The responsive design approach, which aims to optimize viewing and interactions across devices, naturally increases user confidence in making their transactions via the device they have been using for research rather than switching to a desktop.

More than one-fifth of the all m-commerce retailers now have responsive design websites, and developers and other mobile experts predict that number could rise to 50 percent of all m-commerce retailers by next year.

3. Increased Number & Use Of Apps

About 42 percent of mobile sales are now made from mobile apps, while nearly 58 percent come from websites on smartphones and tablets.

The number of apps offered by top retailers and the number of retailers offering apps have each increased significantly. And it’s easy to see why: on average, mobile retailers will gain about 30 percent of it’s mobile sales from apps, and this is expected to continue to increase next year.

Providing A 100% Mobile Experience

Overall, Internet Retailer’s report reveals a clear trend: that consumers are increasingly using their mobile devices, and are becoming less reliant on desktops to make online purchases.

In many cases, retailers aren’t far away from providing completely mobile experiences, where users have all the choices that a retailer offers, via any chosen device.

As Paul Cousineau, director of mobile shopping at Amazon states in the report:

“[Amazon wants] a customer to be able to have 100% of their relationship with Amazon on any device they choose. … Mobile is a transformative technology. As our percentage of customers adopting mobile continues to grow, mobile can no longer be a limited subset of features or products. People do not put their phone down then go find a desktop to do something. They use their phone. And we think with clever use of functions and design, it is possible to give mobile customers 100%.”

This article first appeared on the Linkdex blog.