More than 60% of e-commerce activity will be conducted on smartphones by 2020, according to new research from OC&C Strategy Consultants.
For the first time, 2016 featured a month where more than 50% of online purchases involved a smartphone, but only 27% of e-commerce transactions were carried out on a smartphone across the whole of the year. That’s according to OC&C’s Mobile Mandate report, which incorporates data from Paypal and Google, as well as OC&C’s own analysis.
But retailers in the UK, in particular, fell behind their American and Asian competitors in some key aspects of mobile commerce – including load speed and the availability of chat support in an e-commerce context, which is much more prevalent in other countries.
Western retailers also risk falling behind Asian competitors in contextual commerce, where it is estimated more than 31% of WeChat users in China have made a purchase through the platform.
Looking to the future, retailers from the US – including Nordstrom and American Eagle – as well as those from Japan – such as Uniqlo – are experimenting with chatbots on Facebook Messenger and Kik. The growing channel has been pinpointed as an emerging force in m-commerce, and OC&C Strategy Consultants said that it was a channel that ‘retailers need to address’ before they get left behind.
The results complement a report by Bazaarvoice that highlighted as much as 30% of consumers have changed their mind in a shopping aisle as a result of information gathered on their smartphone. This is ever more relevant as consumers try to evaluate the relative value of an item in-store. Mobile shoppers are looking for specific information about products, checking out consumer-generated content (CGC) such as product ratings and reviews, Bazaarvoice said.
Mark Steel is digital operations director for British retailer Argos, which in recent years has shifted its focus from in-store purchases to click-and-collect. Argos also uses customer feedback to refine its product offerings and improve the shopping experience by ensuring that the most valuable CGC is available to its retail customers.
Steel said: “I do genuinely believe mobile is still one of the most important factors, one of the most important trends when we’re thinking about delivering a great experience for our customers. The power and the technology that the vast majority of our customers now carry around with them every single day, it’s just opening up a whole new world of opportunities for retailers to engage with their customers.”
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024