NEW YORK ? A Gilt Groupe executive at the Mobile Shopping Fall conference said that the company is seeing that consumers are willing to transact on mobile, with a recent member buying a $24,000 vintage Rolex watch via the iPad.

During ?The Next Generation of Tablets: Capitalizing on the Growing Product Landscape? session, executives  discussed how tablets are becoming the go-to devices for mobile purchases. The session was moderated by Ian Grody, senior conference producer at WorldWide Business Research, New York.

?For us tablets and overall mobile strategy started as an experiment,? said Chris Maliwat, senior director of product management at Gilt Groupe, New York.

?It?s becoming a gigantic part of our overall strategy,? he said. ?Tablet users are willing to spend a lot of money.

?A $24,000 vintage Rolex watch sold on the iPad ? it was one of the most expensive items sold on Gilt."

According to Mr. Maliwat, Gilt is seeing an explosion in the mobile space.

Additionally, the executive said now is the time to get into mobile advertising.

?There?s not as much competition [in the mobile ad space] and although the inventory is limited, there?s a direct line to ROI,? Mr. Maliwat said. ?We?re trying to get in while the inventory is cheap so we really scaled our spend in that space.?

Mr. Maliwat believes that the biggest challenge is adoption.

?You should have a good sense of how many people will use your mobile offering,? Mr. Maliwat said. ?What kind of activities they use the device for.

?You should absolutely make an investment and scale your investment to where your users are moving towards,? he said.

The executive also believes that there will be a huge opportunity in the tablet space with social.

?The intersection of social is really important to the evolution of the tablet,? Mr. Maliwat said. ?Tablets are addressing a new market and a new space.

?There are limitations in the hardware right now that prevent the experience to be as seamless as we would want it to be,? he said. ?Consumers need to be able to experience the product and understand the texture.?

Gilt has been paving the way in the mobile commerce space.

The company has mobile apps and a mobile-optimized site.

Gilt recently rolled out a mobile site for its new offering Gilt Taste.

Consumers can now shop for eats via their mobile device no matter where they are.

Gilt's mobile strategy proves that the industry is evolving.

According to Mr. Maliwat, the gaming industry is a good example of how the mobile space is evolving.

?I think that the gaming industry as a whole is really pushing the boundaries in how these interfaces are being used,? Mr. Maliwat said. ?Companies such as Zynga and EA tend to push the boundaries before the rest of us.?

Final Take
Rimma Kats is staff reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York