There’s a New King in Town: Why Mobile Commerce Just Won Over Desktop
Mobile Commerce Has Turned the Online Shopping Experience into a MUCH Better Experience. Here’s Why. 
With the holiday season right around the corner, brands are seeking new ways to boost their shopping experience and increase sales. TechCrunch recently reported that for the first time ever, mobile is set to surpass online shopping this holiday season, which means that now, more than ever before, studying mobile user behavior is crucial for retailers looking to enhance their brand. So what is it about mobile that finally made it win over desktop? I’ve assembled the following list to help retail brand marketers better understand the behavior of mobile shoppers, and based on that, learn how they can enhance their brand and its relationship with consumers. It’s All at Your Fingertips The first thing that stands out when thinking about mobile commerce is accessibility. Since users have their mobile with them at all times, it means that they have the option to shop and search for items and coupons at all times. A recent survey discovered that 75% of shoppers have their favorite brand’s app on their phone, and more than two thirds of these users have had it for longer than six months – it doesn’t get more accessible than that.
Furthermore, users say they love sharing information about their favorite brands with friends and family using instant messaging, making for a more interactive experience. The main takeaway from this is that transitioning your brand to mobile will make it more accessible to users, as well as make it easier for them to discuss and share it with others. In fact, in another survey, users said they plan on using their favorite retailer’s mobile app to share gift ideas with family and friends. Yes, please. The Tablet Experience Recent findings indicate that tablet owners enjoy online shopping more. The larger screen allows users to search for items in a leisurely fashion, which turns tablets into a great discovery tool, enabling users to conveniently view and sift between products. According to Adobe Digital Marketing Insights, tablet users spend over 20% more per purchase at online retailers when compared with with traditional laptop and desktop visitors. And if that’s not groundbreaking enough, tablet users are almost three times more likely to make purchases than smartphone users. Now let’s discuss how brands can capitalize on this information. We already know that users prefer using their tablets for browsing rather than purchasing items they’ve planned on buying ahead of time. This means that investing more into item discovery and a visually pleasant interface will help brands improve their tablet experience and give users exactly what they need. This way, you will make the most out of the biggest screen in mobile, which turns out to be your biggest opportunity as well. Smartphone Moments As opposed to tablets, when it comes to mobile shopping, smartphones are used more for quick purchases. Google recently shared that this holiday season 54% of shoppers plan to use their spare moments for “shopping moments”. This is where the mobile magic happens and location data and personalization come into play. when it comes to quick searches, relevance to context is key, and marketers that are able to “serve” users with exactly what they’re looking for at the moment increase their chances of making a sale. Taking user location, preferences, interests, and previous purchases into account will help you present them with relevant products right off the bat. This is guaranteed to increase consumer experience as it eliminates the need to extensively search for products during rushed “bursts” of shopping time.
Mobile as a Shopping Aid Interestingly enough, as many as 79% of users are confessing to using their mobile devices as a “shopping aid” while shopping at brick and mortar locations. They do so for a variety of reasons: to search for better prices, check out reviews, scan a barcode, look for coupons and even pay at the register. This information is extremely valuable to you, retail brand marketers. Knowing that users turn to their mobiles as they would to a “shopping assistant”, you can make relevant changes in your brand’s mobile experience to make it a seamless part of the in-store experience. This can be done using location data. Instead of requiring users to actively seek certain information, be sure to use push notifications to provide it yourself as soon as you recognize that app users have stepped into a storefront. To conclude, I could go on and on about how much your retail brand would be missing out by not making the transition to mobile, but the numbers simply speak for themselves. It was recently published that retailers are missing out on $10 billion a year by neglecting mobile. So before it’s too late, study how your target audience uses mobile, and make the transition so you can finally provide them with everything they need to make the most out of your brand.
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