Mobile Checkout Overtakes Desktop Checkout (eCommerce Business)
We’ve all been preparing ourselves for the ‘tipping point’ of mobile eCommerce. There’s data that indicated that more than half of actual global online purchases are happening on mobile. eCommerce businesses are spending their budgets on developing their apps and mobile support to keep up with the changing times.
Stats from global payments company Adyen show that mobile’s share of sales has been growing steadily for years, climbing from 34% in January 2016, to 43% in January 2017. But now for the first time, mobile has reached 52%, surpassing desktop as the technology of choice for eCommerce purchases. Source
The eCommerce traffic on mobile is overtaking desktop and one of the most obvious reasons for this is the mere convenience of shopping on the move. With the advancement in Smartphone Technology and data connections, customers are now shopping comfortably on the move. 3G and 4G, for instance, are providing enough comfort to the person to satisfy his/her wants while browsing.
Over the last few years, mobile has been a vital part of holiday shopping, but this is only going to increase this year and in the coming years. As an eCommerce business the sooner you improve your mobile shopping experience, the sooner you’ll see enhanced conversion rates. However, if you’re not prepared to serve your customers on mobile, you may as well accept that your biggest shopping days of the year could be a bummer.
4 crucial reasons that led to the growth of mobile eCommerce
1. Embracing the mobile culture
Enough and more data has established that mobile screen time has shown a significant increase. An individual’s smartphone is a large part of his/her life. By spending more time on the phones, consumers have become comfortable with swiping, tapping and general phone navigation. Including these factors in your strategy can make shopping on mobile much easier.
2. Improved LTE/Phone networks
Mobile conversions are directly connected with speed. Think about it, in a world of instant gratification it can be frustrating to handle apps that don’t work well and pages that show loading but don’t load. To establish this, one of the biggest eCommerce players Amazon ran a split A/B test where they purposely slowed down their site to quantify the impact of speed. The result showed an increase of 100ms in load time decreases sales by 1%.
3. Better mobile UX
The old method was to squeeze and shrink the desktop site onto a mobile phone. While in theory, it was alright doing this did not enhance the mobile experience. However, over the years, mobile user research and multiple A/B tests have made great progress towards making fantastic mobile user experiences. This has significantly contributed to the increase in mobile checkouts over the desktop. And if you’re looking for inspiration and ideas, check out this wonderful guide that lists over 30 mobile commerce UX best practices.
4. Bigger and better screens
With the screens getting bigger and better, the conversion rates are also increasing. Moreover, as the screen size increased, it enabled UX designers to work on better designs and give shoppers an enhanced and more fulfilling shopping experience.
Bringing in the Mobile Revenue
While the factors mentioned above have significantly pushed mobile shopping experience a long way, there is still some work needed here. According to Fluent’s 2017 Devices and Demographic Report, there are 4 major factors that will immensely encourage shoppers to shop via mobile. They are:
- Easier navigation
- Increased speed
- One-click purchases
- Enhanced security
This is what you can do to tackle this.
Easier Navigation
Compared to the desktop, mobile sessions are slightly shorter because they are often interrupted. People access their phones when taking a break, while commuting, in queues or when bored. With the limited time on hands, easy navigation is critical.
- Use your current shopper data and make it easier for them to find what they want. Customize their feed basis their past purchases, likes/dislikes, geographical location, etc.
- Find out about the best UX practices and use them to improve navigation and increase conversion. Conduct some A/B tests to gauge what your market best responds to.
Increased Speed
Conversions are directly related to speed. Which means if your mobile site/app is slow, you’ll be losing out. Some of your best options to fix this are”
- Implement a PWA (Progressive Web App): They deliver an app-like experience on the mobile web.
- Use AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages): AMP is simply a lightweight version of a page that Google caches. This allows organic traffic to load your page first immediately.
One-Click Purchases
Streamline your checkout process and you’ll see an increase in conversions. The more complicated and tedious your checkout process, the lesser the conversions.
- Offer conveniences such as e-wallets and Apple Pay/Android Pay that allow shoppers to avoid filling out extra information.
- Use real-time communication such as push-notifications for abandoned carts. Ensure that these notifications take the user straight to the cart to finish their purchase.
Enhanced Security
This is a concern for almost all shoppers. Carts are abandoned because the user was uncomfortable sharing his/her credit card details.
- E-wallets, Apple Pay, Android Pay etc come in handy here because then the user does not have to share their card details
- Add lock icons and the word “secure” to your checkout pages. This can help make users feel a lot safer doing transactions with you.
So, are you going to swim or sink?
Whether mobile has been your domain or not, it’s time to light this fire. The technology and innovation are all at your disposal to make this work for your eCommerce business.
