88% of Americans Who Shop on Their Smartphones Experience Negative Issues, With 30% Never Coming Back After an Undesirable User Experience
Mobile Shopping Becomes New Competitive Battlefield for Retailers, as 33% of Shoppers Immediately Defect to a Competitor After a Negative User Experience
SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Jun 20, 2013) - Skava, the leading provider of mobile, tablet and in-store technologies to more than 20% of the Top 30 Internet Retailers in America, today announced the results of the "Skava Consumer Mobile Shopping Survey." The survey, conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of Skava, asked 2,085 U.S. adults aged 18+ about their experience when shopping on smartphones. The trend to shop on smartphones is growing, with 71% of smartphone owners saying they shop using their mobile device. However, mobile shopping experiences fail to meet consumer satisfaction, as 88% of those who shop on their smartphone have experienced negative issues.
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%)
Product images are too small to make buying decision (46%)
Concerns over security on their smartphone (41%)
Checkout process is a pain (26%)
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 website 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 retailers, generated $4bn 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 U.S. retailers when a user has a negative shopping experience. Perhaps the most serious implication for retailers is that 30% claimed they would never return to that particular retailer's mobile website again after a negative experience. Furthermore, 29% of smartphone owners claimed it would be 6 months or more before giving a retailer's mobile website a second chance, while 33% would immediately defect to a competitor and 36% would abandon the purchase altogether after a sub-optimal experience.
Ali continues. "Skava works with some of the biggest retailers in America who typically generate in excess of $1bn in online sales. Nearly 13% 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 checkout 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.
To learn more about Skava's next-generation multi-channel e-Commerce solutions, visit www.skava.com.
Survey Methodology:
This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of Skava from May 29-31, 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. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact Danielle McCormick.
About Skava:
Skava is a leading provider of next-generation multi-channel e-Commerce solutions to retailers. The SkavaONE™ "Omni-Commerce" platform allows retailers to create mobile websites and apps, tablet websites and apps, interactive digital catalogs, in-store kiosk applications, and social commerce offerings from one integrated platform. The SkavaONE™ platform works along with the retailer's existing e-Commerce platform and helps the retailer extend the online shopping experience to all these other customer "touchpoints" through customized and unique user experiences. Skava is recognized in the industry for providing a flexible and advanced platform which is able to adapt to the most complex e-Commerce requirements. Skava's customers include 20% of the Top 20 online retailers.
