From the pure play online retailers, through catalogue to multi-channel retailers, the mobile consumer is becoming ever critical. Yet recent research conducted by Celebrus Technologies reveals less than one third of the UK’s top 120 etailers has developed a mobile app; and of those without an app only 61.3% has optimised their home page, if nothing else, for mobile visitors. Furthermore, the mobile experience is measurably less personalised and responsive than traditional desktop based websites.
In an era increasingly dominated by online sales, why so many retailers are still failing to get the basics right – and missing out on measurable incremental revenue as a result?
Mobile Reality
The consumer shift in attitude to mobile has been significant over the past 12 months. EE claims to have nearly 700,000 customers on 4G; while Facebook’s share price rose following the news of a spike in mobile ad revenue. Not only did mcommerce sales show growth rising 136% in June 2013 compared to a year before and up 8% from May, but conversion rates via mobile devices increased from 1.27% to 2.03% between June 2012 and June 2013, and spending via tablets now approaches that of desktops.
Yet it appears that much of this spike in sales is being achieved despite, rather than as, a result of the quality of mobile retail experience. Recent research conducted by Celebrus Technologies reveals that only 31.7% of the top 120 UK Retailers by web sales revenue have mobile apps available for customers to download onto their device – while only 61.3% of those without an app have optimised their home page for visitors.
Questionable Experience
Even those retailers that have a mobile app seem to lack confidence in its value or appeal to consumers: 94.7% of companies had an iOS app available on the Apple App webstore, but only 55.3% promoted their iOS app on their website; while 65.8% of companies had an Android app on the Google Play webstore but just 21.1% promoted the Android app on the website.
Of course, many retailers may take the view that developing an app can never be a substitute for a mobile optimised site: research by Google in April 2013 found that 65% of US smartphone shoppers preferred to use mobile web rather than mobile apps for shopping. Yet even with a focus on mobile optimising the website, the Celebrus research discovered 17 out of 120 mobile sites still experienced significant usability problems, ranging from no login option to a lack of recognition of existing account details or preferences.
Furthermore, the experience is not consistent with the desktop website. While over two thirds (68.3%) of retailers recognise abandoned baskets on a desktop when the visitor returns to the site, this drops to just 40% on a smartphone. And just 6.7% of mobile sites have any degree of personalisation, such as previously browsed goods, category recognition or name personalisation, in contrast with almost a quarter (22.5%) of sites accessed via a desktop.
Inconsistent Approach
While the vast majority (86.7%) of retailers have a sign up email newsletter option, only 57.5% sent out a welcome email to customers when they sign up. That percentage dropped to just 48.9% for web only retailers for whom this is a superb opportunity to deepen engagement with new customers at a key stage in their lifecycle. Moreover, the vast majority of retailers sent only one welcome email, not the well-crafted multi-stage welcome programmes that email service providers have been recommending for years. Most retailers are also failing to take any proactive approach to addressing abandoned baskets despite the fact that well over half (58%) of visitors still abandon baskets according the latest IMRG figures and retargeting customers who have abandoned baskets is proven to boost sales.
Increasing Engagement
Inbound Marketing Software provider, HubSpot, maintains that retargeting browsers can encourage 20% of basket abandoners to return and purchase – and they will spend on average 55% more than those who did not abandon a basket. However, the Celebrus research revealed only 3 of the 120 UK etailers researched routinely send abandonment emails to retarget customers; and only one company offered more than a basic link to the basket and/or product and included an incentive – such as free delivery – to entice the customer back online.
To be frank, the research indicates that the vast majority of retailers are failing to deliver any kind of personalisation, irrespective of platform. Even on the desktop, only 11 out of 120 companies had category recognition and just 13 out of 120 companies had browsed goods recognition for returning website visitors.
Conclusion
Despite board level statements about commitment to the online consumer, delivering a consistent experience, exploiting social media and innovative imagery, the online reality, most notably the mobile online reality, appears disappointing.
Almost all retailers reported a rise in online sales last year, but the differences in online experience are marked. An increasingly savvy and mobile confident customer base is not going to tolerate such variation for long: consumers want a personalised experience and they want it to be consistent across every channel.
By Katharine Hulls, Vice President of Marketing at Celebrus Technologies.
PrivSec Conferences will bring together leading speakers and experts from privacy and security to deliver compelling content via solo presentations, panel discussions, debates, roundtables and workshops.
For more information on upcoming events, visit the website.
comments powered by Disqus