Demandware recently released its Shopping Index for Q2, finding that phones accounted for 94% of the increase in visits and 74% of the increase in basket creation. By the end of the year, it says, phones will be the most trafficked digital shopping device.

They also looked at how Android and iOS compare. Demandware’s Rick Kenney writes:

We re-examined the order share and traffic share of the leading touch-based operating systems, iOS and Android. iOS trumps Android when tablets and phones are both factored in, but when we look at phones alone, the story is more interesting. Globally, iOS holds a 15-point lead over Android in order and traffic share, 57% to 42%.

iOS devices snag a higher average order value over Android, $107 to $96. In certain countries, like Germany, Android actually leads the order and traffic share. On the flip side, luxury apparel shoppers clearly prefer the iPhone, as their share is much more skewed to iOS. What’s the lesson for retailers? When designing experiences for specific operating systems, like native applications for phones, know your shopper. Is your shopper spending $50 or $5,000 on your products? If you simply put an “I’ first, you risk alienating nearly half of your addressable market.

Mobile is of course driving email opens these days, and as the holiday marketing season approaches, increased phone-based shopping should mean good things for ecommerce-related email marketing.

Images via Thinkstock, Demandware