As we head into the holiday shopping season, retailers may need to up their mobile game, according to a new study by Ebates Canada.
In a survey of 1,000 Canadians, the company found that more than half (55%) of Canadian online shoppers cite easy transactions as important for a good mobile experience, followed by the use of mobile-optimized sites (46%), both of which ranked higher than product quality and selection. In fact, a frustrating experience such as not being able to see product details on the phone is one of the top reasons why consumers don’t shop mobile. Finding the best price is the number-one reason people shop via mobile.
Regardless of whether they use their mobile to make a purchase or not, the study says online shoppers actively use their mobile device as part of the overall shopping process, including price comparisons, deals or coupons, research and product reviews.
More than one third of Canadian mobile shoppers (36%) say they are actually physically out shopping at the time they make a purchase using their mobile, a practice that’s higher for men (42%) than women (31%).
“[Consumers] have access to so much information that they can see pricing in-store, start researching, figure out if they can get a better price somewhere else and then actually make that purchase in store if they’re not finding what they need,” said Sari Friedman, director of marketing at Ebates.ca.
“I think marketers and retailers need to have a solid mobile strategy and they need to ask the questions: are they delivering a quality mobile customer experience, do they have a well-designed mobile website and are they reaching their customers when they’re actually out on the go?”
Even when consumers are in the store, 36% of Canadians would prefer to find their information on their phones than speak with a sales person. “Because people have access to so much information at their fingertips, they’re quickly going online to find the information as opposed to speaking to someone who might be right in front of them,” said Friedman. “So, retailers should make sure their FAQ sections and all the information that a customer might need is also available on the site.”
The survey found that 36% of Canadian mobile users have used their smartphone or tablet to make a purchase in the last 12 months. Of those shoppers, 58% said their level of mobile spending is up compared to last year.
Half of millennials have made a mobile purchase in the past 12 months. The top categories purchased by mobile include entertainment (music, movies, books – 55%), clothing and accessories (54%), electronics (51%), and cosmetics, health and beauty (32%).
