Online retailers have been responding to a growing development over the past few months; rising sales via mobile devices, usually tablets or touch-screen phones, as distinct from sales via laptops or desktop computers. Consumers are increasingly using their mobile devices as a shopping platform, as well as a research tool.

This trend is highlighted in the latest IMRG Capgemini Quarterly Benchmarking, which found that 32% of UK online sales were via mobile devices in Q4 2013/4, up from 27% in the previous quarter and visits to e-retail sites via smartphone and tablet devices now account for nearly half of traffic. comScore, has also found that multi-platform use in retail also grew between July & December 2013 (from 53% to 57%), despite a decline in this behaviour for web as a whole.

We’re seeing another trend linked to this; using touch-screen devices as part of the pre-sales research process. This early stage of the buying process tends to be more social; it’s where people look for inspiration from their friends and share ideas, as well as comparing products and prices. Often however, this is a precursor to completing the sale on a desktop. 

So consumers are now using their mobiles as pre-sales research tools, or to actually buy something, but retailers are not always providing them with the ideal experience. As consumer behaviour changes, not creating a user-friendly and mobile-specific browsing experience may mean risking losing the customer altogether!

So, what should online retailers be looking out for in order to respond to this development?

1. Focus on the customer

Developing specifically for touch devices is a very good practice. While it might be easy to keep adding functions and complexity to a desktop version, this should be the opposite for mobile. Concentrate on the core things your customers really care about. Which functionality do they need to browse and buy on your site? The touch experience needs to be much simpler and more intuitive since it’s happening on a smaller screen. If you apply these fundamentals to your desktop experience you will also end up with a much simpler site to use, happier customers, and a better business.

2. Watch behaviour

E-commerce doesn’t always develop in the way we’re expecting. Browsing is happening everywhere now, in all sorts of previously unused time spots. Online retailers need to watch their customers’ shopping behaviour and adapt accordingly. Are you seeing rush hour peaks as commuters kill time waiting for transport? Are there spikes in online activity in the evening, but with purchases completed in the early morning before work? These could be signs that your customers are using their touch-screen devices for pre-sales browsing.

3. What’s happening in the basket?

High basket abandonment is the curse of the online retailer. This can be addressed through an improved pre-sales experience, where consumers can try things out, add things to their basket or update their wish list in little pockets of time. When customisation is involved, purchases via mobile devices tend to result in less complex designs and smaller, but converted, baskets. Savvy retailers however, are offering consumers a two-pronged approach: the opportunity to start the design process on a touch-screen device and then refine their idea on a laptop later.

4. Are you in their top 5?

PwC’s research is also telling. As we can see, consumers are getting more comfortable with mobile shopping, but 57% of UK online shoppers are tending to limit it to five or fewer retailers citing reasons of trust and price. If your site isn’t optimised for use from their touch-screen device are you going to be one of their top five retailers?

5. Don’t get distracted by an app

It’s all about meeting the needs of your consumers, not about having the latest technology bauble. By looking at our consumers’ activity, we discovered that touch-device activity forms 20% of our global traffic, most of which comes via search. So we’ll be concentrating on creating responsive design interfaces for touch screen browsers in 2014; making it easier for consumers, brands and their fans to create, sell and buy ideas on merchandising.

Touch devices are becoming a key part of the online shopping process. Being able to browse, store and share liked products on the move, to buy later, is a vital part of the pre-sales experience. Online retailers need to catch-up with this and make sure their browsing experience is touch-device-friendly.

 

By Philip Rooke, CEO of Spreadshirt.

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