Mobile shopping has become a US$38 billion a year business, and is only going to grow as companies continue to enhance and optimize the online experience, says a new study.
The Adobe 2013 Mobile Consumer Survey is based on interviews with more than 3,075 mobile users 18-64 in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany. Respondents were broken into three segments: young (18-29), middle-aged (30-49) and older (50-64).
The study asked respondents which mobile devices they use, how they interact with websites and apps, and what they want most out of their mobile devices.
“Not only do companies today need to understand how consumers are connecting with them, but they also need to gain better insight into who those consumers are,” the study concluded. “Perpetually connected consumers interact with brands across multiple devices at any time, and therefore have a high propensity to spend more money via mobile.”
While smartphones remain the most commonly used device among consumers who own both a smartphone and a tablet, they have been overtaken by tablets as the mobile device most frequently used for accessing websites – accounting for approximately 8% of all monthly page views.
A recent Adobe Digital Index analysis of website visits found mobile users view an average of 70% more pages per visit when browsing via a tablet. Designing for the tablet experience, while incorporating responsive design that optimizes the user experience for every device, are key tactics for businesses looking to maximize engagement and increase customer satisfaction, the study said.
Tablet usage was consistent across all three age groups in terms of time spent (a few hours a week) and where they use the device most frequently (home), although there were some notable differences in the activities they engaged in.
Only 57% of younger respondents said they use their tablet to check e-mail, compared with 66% of middle-age respondents and 70% of older respondents. In addition, 55% of people 18-49 said they used their tablet to watch videos, compared with only 31% of older users.
Interestingly, shopping is a key tablet activity for all three segments, with 43% of young respondents saying they used the device to shop, compared with 44% of middle-aged respondents and 42% of older respondents.
A recent eMarketer study predicted that consumers will spend US$38.4 billion via mobile devices this year, representing approximately 15% of all e-commerce sales. Tablets now account for 62.5% of all mobile sales, with eMarketer predicting that number to rise to 71.5% by 2017.
Mobile ads have also been shown to capture consumer attention, with 31% of respondents saying they had clicked on at least one ad presented on a mobile website in the past three months, with 61% of those indicating that they thought the ad was personalized.
One-quarter of respondents clicked on at least one ad presented on a mobile app, 68% of which indicated that they thought it was personalized. Men are also more likely than women to click on mobile ads: 33% versus 28% on mobile websites, 26% versus 24% within apps.
Clothing, shoes and jewelry were the most shopped items via mobile, with 51% of respondents saying they have purchased those items in the past 12 months. Books, magazines and newspapers followed at 48%, with movies, music and games (excluding iTunes and mobile games) at 47%.
Apps have emerged as the primary method for browsing and shopping via mobile devices, with 37% of respondents indicating that is their preferred shopping method – followed by mobile-optimized sites (33%) and regular websites (30%).
Asked what features they find most important when purchasing via a mobile website or downloaded app, 53% of respondents said price/product information, followed by an easy checkout process (47%) and customer rating or reviews (41%).
Asked what would increase the likelihood that they would shop via their mobile device, 43% indicated the ability to make side-by-side product comparisons, while 42% said the ability to rotate a product 360 degrees and 39% said the ability to use an interactive zoom or pan on images.
