Smartphone shopping often negative: Skava

Aug. 13, 2013 – Skava,
a leading provider of mobile, tablet and in-store technologies has
announced the results of a consumer mobile shopping survey that shows 88
per cent of online shoppers using smartphones report a negative
experience. The survey, conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf
of Skava, asked 2,085 U.S. adults aged 18-plus about their experience
when shopping on smartphones. The trend to shop on smartphones is
growing, with 71 percent of smartphone owners saying they shop using
their mobile device.

Infographic on mobile shopping, from Skava.

When asked about their biggest pain points when shopping on
mobile, mobile shoppers responded: retailers’ websites are harder to navigate
and use on a mobile device than on a desktop (51 per cent); product images are
too small to make buying decision (46 per cent); concerns over security on
their smartphone (41 per cent); checkout process is a pain (26 per cent).

Other challenges that were revealed in the study included concerns over data
usage costs, difficulties in adding coupon codes and mobile website speed.
Interestingly, some shoppers believe that products are more expensive on a
mobile website, while others claimed concerns over clicking the wrong buttons
when making purchases. 

“The sudden rise in the number of visitors accessing
retailers' websites from mobile took many retailers by surprise and they
quickly created a mobile as a  first response, but the initial bounce
rates were high and conversion rates low, leaving many retailers thinking that
people didn’t have an appetite to buy from mobile,” said Arish Ali, Skava co-founder
and president. “It isn’t just about putting a mobile website out there – it is
about building an experience that is easy for customers to use and takes into
consideration the unique attributes of mobile devices. Achieving significant
conversion rates on mobile is possible. Amazon, a constant threat to
traditional retailer, generated $4 billion in sales through mobile last year.“

Skava conducted the survey in order to gain insight into the American user
experience when shopping on a smartphone, as well as to determine the resulting
consequences for US retailers when a user has a negative shopping experience.
Perhaps the most serious implication for retailers is that 30 per cent claimed
they would never return to that particular retailer’s mobile website again
after a negative experience. Furthermore, 29 per cent of smartphone owners claimed
it would be six months or more before giving a retailer’s mobile website a
second chance, while 33 per cent would immediately defect to a competitor and
36 per cent would abandon the purchase altogether after a sub-optimal
experience.  

“Skava works with some of the biggest retailers in America who typically
generate in excess of $1 billion in online sales,” said Ali. “Nearly 13 per
cent of their traffic is coming from smartphones, so for them achieving optimal
conversion rates through this channel is crucial to their bottom line.
Retailers need to create a unique, mobile optimized navigation to navigate a
customer to their desired product as quickly as possible. Once there, you then
must create a product page that the consumer feels confident buying from and
then check out must be a breeze.”

However, as the results of this nationwide survey show, in general many
retailers are still failing to meet their customers' expectations and this
creates a real threat of losing customers and market share to their competitors
who create superior mobile experiences.

This survey was conducted online within the United States by
Harris Interactive on behalf of Skava from May 29 to 31, 2013, among 2,085
adults ages 18 and older, of whom 744 were identified as smartphone shoppers.
This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no
estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

Related Link
www.skava.com