The importance of mobile commerce

Nowadays there is an increasing number of people turning to mobile devices and with this increasing smartphone penetration in user’s lives, it is expected that more people will start shopping on mobile devices. In this first article, I cover some data about mobile versus desktop usage, reasons to consider mobile commerce and a glimpse of how to improve the mobile experience.

Mobile versus Desktop usage: a cultural change

Smartphones used to be dominated by desktops, but with the evolution of the technology, they became a viable multi-objective gadget that allows users to complete a series of different tasks. Transitioning to a digital-first and fast-paced culture where most people want to be connected all the time in all the places, the use of mobile devices has dramatically increased.

Only in the US, smartphone possession rose from 53% in 2013 to 91% in 2023. Excluding tablets, the share of online traffic has been increasing for mobile devices: globally, they represent 58.3% of the total traffic, whereas desktop devices represent 39.7% (2022). This trend is influenced by Asian countries, where around 70% of the online traffic comes from mobile devices, whereas this number is around 47.5% in the US and UK, slightly behind the desktop share.?

In Gen Z, the digital-native generation, 98% of them own a smartphone, 75% of users say that their device of choice is a smartphone, and 40% of them (2022) spend an average of four hours per day - excluding games. This may indicate a future trend in how people will access the internet and consume online since this generation will become the economically active population.?

When we analyze search queries on Google, mobile devices represent 58% of searches. However, users do not spend all their time browsing or shopping, but mainly on social media, enabling this channel to become a powerful lever for sales.

Mobile Commerce

Even though mobile devices are gaining ground from desktops, when the conversion rate is compared, desktops still outperform them, having an average conversion rate of 4.32%, almost twice the 2.9% of mobile devices. These differences come from the nature of each device, and user experience, and it is directly correlated with the screen size. This may indicate that although users prefer to use specific support, the chance of converting on desktops is higher.?

Mobile devices are more versatile than desktops, they are all-in-one devices that can be used in multiple places given their mobility, and with the advance of cellular networks, internet access is available almost everywhere. Mobile devices are also cheaper, making it easy for a higher number of people to use them, becoming a popular option.?

Key points when creating the mobile strategy:

1. Responsive templates will adjust to different sizes of screens, avoiding the need to create and maintain multiple layouts.
2. Call-to-action must be touch-friendly, adjusting sizing, spacing, and shape can ease the user’s access to this element.?
3. Mobile device gestures should be considered when planning the experience. On these devices, users can interact by tapping, swiping, and zooming on the screen.?
4. Increase mobile page speed. Loading times matter significantly for mobile users. A report by Google shows that 53% of mobile users abandon websites if the pages take longer than three seconds to load. This shows mobile page load speeds are critical to a good user experience.
5. Optimized checkout experience. Users on mobile devices are easily distracted by other activities, so having a seamless checkout experience is a must to reduce cart abandonment.

These are the main points when thinking about a mobile strategy and they will be further explored and detailed in a future article. These improvements become more relevant when Google prioritizes the mobile experience when ranking websites, so it is a must to improve SEO and consequently organic sales.

Conclusion

The dominance of mobile devices as a habit in daily use is increasing and already consolidated in some Eastern Asian countries. Today, even though mobile devices drive more traffic and overall usage, desktops still bring more sales. However, even with a lower conversion, with the huge number of mobile users, it can become an important stream of revenue.

Improving the mobile experience will most probably increase the mobile revenue and the overall SEO ranking of the website, allowing the store to be relevant where most parts of the users are. Considering the variety of different devices and channels that users interact with, having an omnichannel approach with a unified experience would make it easier to keep them in your ecosystem.?