Why are we still purchasing on our desktop ?

IN 2016 we went past the mobile tipping point when we spent more time on mobile devices than on desktop. Consumers now spend the greatest percentage of their shopping time on mobile - but a much lower percentage of time purchasing . So the question for those interested in online sales and marketing is....

When will the inevitable happen and consumers purchase more online, using our mobile handset/device than we do desktop and what are the impediments to purchasing on our mobile handsets ?

The answers to those questions can be found by looking at the data, and what's holding back the inevitable tide of purchasing on the handset.

It seems crazy, but still do over 65% of all online purchasing transactions happen on the desktop. So at this point in time, the data is clear we shop on mobile but purchase on desktop.

Our company has seen the impact of this when we run promotions direct to the mobile, with active links in the SMS or MMS message to the offer and the purchase. Whilst there is an immediate impulse to purchase, and we see the click through in the 40's and 60% - many consumers excitement for the offer and the purchase falls off when presented with the requirements of password login and the hassle of re-entering delivery data and credit information - and they are on their mobile when they get the offer.

I know myself, I have received email, MMS and SMS offers on my phone, and thought, yep, I want that, it's a good offer. However, I am on my phone, I am not near my desktop, I don't use a tablet. So, in every cases I have lost the urge to purchase by the time I lose patience with trying to enter details on the small screen - or have to get my credit card out, or just by the fact that there are too many steps- and it is now a task and there is no joy in the purchasing process.

Now, it maybe time to admit that I am a man. I tend to be impatient, I don't like shopping, but I do like buying. I like the analogy that in these Covid 19 times for adults at home working, receiving an online purchase delivery is akin to a child hearing the Mr Whippy ice cream truck in the neighbourhood. So I do like to get stuff online, I do like it delivered, but I would buy more if it was easier - and that seems to be the issue. Purchasing on a mobile handset is not easy - even though we really want to.

My proof point is when you look at the purchasing behaviours on APPS. You'll see from the chart below that when there is an APP these is a massive increase in the percentage purchased on mobile. The APP enables 44% purchasing on handset. So when the right, ease of use circumstances are presented to the consumer - the preference is handset.

Interestingly, not everybody who shops at a retailer with an APP downloads and keeps using the APP. According to Criteo data even if a retailer has an APP there are still 56% of purchasers buying from the website. That means of that 56 people who don't use the APP only 40% of that group purchase on a on mobile desktop and 60% are still purchasing on the desktop.

This is great data, and why I decided to pen this commentary. We can't ignore 44% purchasing on the handset with an APP and 23% using their mobile to purchase using an eCommerce system and 33% using eCommerce on the desktop.

We prefer to purchase on our mobile handset if we can. I think this data says it all, if it's easy we do it. Phones are devices we have with us all the time, and the main purpose of them is to get stuff done on them. Buying stuff is one of those get done things, and I propose if it were easier we would buy more and more often on our phone.

It is inevitable - we just need to change a few things.

The issue that is holding back purchasing on the mobile is ease of use, or what has become known as friction points. These friction points are the things we complain about just before we decide that we are not going to continue to try and purchase something on our phone. Friction points represent walls that prevent purchase and create moments of missed opportunity for retailers. Remembering the mobile purchase we walk away from is something that maybe 30 seconds ago we thought we really needed or badly wanted, we thought that our life would be richer for having this product, we couldn't live without this or this deal was too good to pass up.

Things change quickly when we encounter mobile handset purchase friction points. Friction points are the things that stop us from purchasing on our mobile when we encounter a desktop eCommerce platform built to be responsive to mobile. Friction points are things like: too hard to see, buttons too small, screen too small, too many screens, do I have to enter my credit card in again, do I have to enter my delivery address again ? - and for the impatient, it all ends with "why do they have to make it so hard to buy something on the phone" and we are gone.

This article is not advocating APP's, nor arguing against them. The 44% number can't be ignored. The 44% seems to indicate that if you make it easy, people prefer to purchase on the mobile.

If you have an APP out there and its working for you fantastic, you got in at the right time, and you are reaping the benefits. However, there is a great deal of popular thought that APPs are now a high risk strategy, expensive to build, expensive to launch and require a great deal of ongoing tech support to keep up with new releases on various platforms and hardware. Add to that, the data on download and delete data, and APP's can be an expensive hit and miss excercise. There is light on the horizon for retailers with new offerings to be launch in August that will enable their customers with one click mobile purchasing without an APP.

We believe for consumers that easy painless purchasing on the handset will take off when there are no friction points. When purchasing on mobile is as easy as ordering a food delivery or a ride share. When you don't need to install their APP, when you don't to remember your password to login, when you are pre-approved for purchase, when your delivery details are remembered and it only takes one Click2Buy on your mobile handset.

Watch this space, coming August 1st 2020 www.SNIPER.digital