• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, June 24, 2015

Retailers that bought into apps in a big way are starting to reap the rewards.

For retailers who prioritized their mobile app as a key revenue driver, apps are now generating almost half (47%) of their mobile revenue with the rest coming from mobile browser sales, based on a new study.

Mobile now accounts for 34% of all online transactions globally and is projected to reach 40% of all online transactions by the end of this year.

Some countries are even higher. For example, Japan and South Korea see more than 40% of online transactions coming from smartphones, according to the latest state of mobile commerce report from Criteo, which measured and analyzed 1.4 billion transactions in 3,000 online and retail travel businesses.

In the U.S., 30% of all transactions now come from mobile devices.

Japan is the leading country based on mobile share of online transactions. Here are the leading countries by share of mobile online transactions, in order:

• Japan
• United Kingdom
• South Korea
• Netherlands
• Germany
• United States
• Spain
• Italy
• France
• Russia
• Brazil

Ever since the first quarter of last year, smartphone sales have outdone tablet sales, with smartphones now accounting for 54% of all mobile transactions.

In the battle of iPhone vs Android, at least in the U.S., Apple continues to win, now accounting for 66% of U.S. smartphone transactions overall.

However, Android delivers a significant share of smartphone transactions across the globe, greater than iPhone in every country except the U.S., U.K. and Japan.

The study shows a clear indication of why retailers should continue to try to get their customers to use their apps. The conversion rate of those using the retailer app is three times higher than those using a mobile browser.

In addition, the study found that shoppers view more than three times more products on apps than mobile browsers.

Shoppers also aren’t shopping on only one device. In 40% of purchases, consumers use more than one device to visit the same retailer before making the buy.

Interestingly, even when researching on a desktop, the purchase occurs on mobile 29% of the time.

Whether a shopper buys via an app or mobile website, the order value per transaction is essentially the same. The same is true for purchasing relating to travel, though the overall dollar value is lower.

So all that resource invested in apps over the years may pay off. At least for those who made the investment.