Whether they’re buying or researching in-store before a purchase, mobile browsing has become a key component of the shopper’s journey in 2017—and new research from commerce marketing tech firm Criteo reveals retailers have a greater impact on mobile devices when an engaging app and a strong mobile web presence are available.
The firm recently released its Global Commerce Review for Q3 of 2017, with analysis exploring shoppers’ winding path to purchase across numerous devices, browsers and apps.
“Today’s shoppers expect that brands and retailers will deliver a personalized shopping experience at the precise moment an interaction is relevant,” said Jonathan Opdyke, chief strategy officer at Criteo, in a news release. “[These] findings reaffirm the need for retailers to adopt omnichannel strategies.”
Key highlights of the research:
Mobile growth
Shoppers are constantly on-the-move, both physically and mentally—with short attention spans when online. The mobile-first shopper is dictating the digital marketing strategies brands and retailers are executing across all channels.
- In the U.S., mobile web usage has reached maturity while smartphone usage continues
to grow. - The share of transactions completed on a smartphone increased by 9 percent over the third quarter of 2016 (apps excluded). Tablet usage decreased slightly during the same time period, as smartphone screens continue to grow in size.
- Retail verticals that enjoyed the largest gains in mobile transaction growth compared to third quarter 2016 include sporting goods with a 45 percent growth and health/beauty with
38 percent. - Mobile influences desktop; 30 percent of US desktop transactions are preceded by a click on a mobile device.
App opportunity
Retailers looking to compete with industry giants can design a seamless in-app experience to remove barriers to purchase.
- Globally, advertisers who generate transactions on all environments (mobile web + in app) see more than 50 percent of transactions completed on mobile.
- In the US, advertisers see 68 percent of all sales taking place on mobile devices. In-app accounts for 71 percent of mobile transactions for retailers who generate sales on both mobile web and in-app.
Shopping moments
Daily and hourly sales trends underscore the importance of retailers’ ability to execute campaigns on all screens, around the clock, based on their core shoppers’ behavioral patterns.
- While desktop browsing still reigns supreme during weekday working hours, smartphone and tablet browsing generates 37 percent and 46 percent more sales on Sunday, respectively.
- Similarly, in the early evening, smartphone and tablet browsing generates 35 percent and 47 percent more sales, respectively.
Combining data
Understanding a shopper across all of their devices can unlock where they might be going based on where their journey began.
- Cross-device data lets marketers understand the winding customer journey. A total of 41 percent of post-click desktop transactions, in total, come from another device.
- Combining cross-device data to better understand and target shopper intent allows marketers to capture higher-value shoppers. This is most apparent in the high tech/computing and health/beauty verticals.
Omnichannel matters
- Online and offline sales should not be evaluated in a silo. Rather, offline sales boost shopper knowledge and in turn, online results.
- Retailers that are successful in combining offline and online data are able to apply more than four times (4X) as much sales data to improve marketing efforts.
Take a look at the report here.
The Global Commerce Review analyzed billions of annual transactions and more than 5,200 retail businesses globally, all Criteo clients.
