GUEST:
Mollie Spilman, Chief Revenue Officer at Criteo, will be speaking at one of Mobile Summit’s fireside sessions. Taking place February 23 and 24, Mobile Summit is limited to 180 senior-level execs who tackle the most urgent mobile issues facing them in 2015. It’s not too late to apply for one of the remaining seats.
In 2015, mobile won’t just be a component of your digital strategy — it will be your digital strategy. Consumers are turning to their mobile devices first for practically everything, and shopping is no exception. Criteo’s most recent State of Mobile Commerce Report for Q4 2014 found that mobile devices now account for one-third of all ecommerce transactions worldwide. This number is expected to continue growing rapidly in tandem with the global rate of smartphone adoption.
Furthermore, smartphones have surpassed tablets in overall sales, and average mobile order values are approaching those placed on desktop. This is particularly surprising as it undermines the conventional belief that average order values increase with device size.
What does all this mean? It’s only a matter of time before mobile makes up over one half of all eCommerce transactions, and the retailers who don’t adapt will be left behind. That’s not to say, however, that retailers can simply mobile-optimize their sites and then let the traffic (and money) roll in.
In the U.S., mobile purchases already account for 27 percent of the ecommerce total, but there’s still a great deal of room for online retailers to increase sales now by converting even more of their already mobile consumers. The following are three ways that marketers can boost revenues this year via mobile.
1. Optimize beyond appearance
It should go without saying at this point that all ecommerce retailers should optimize their web assets for mobile consumers. However, full optimization goes way beyond fitting a website onto a smartphone screen.
For example, Android’s share of mobile sales is now statistically relevant, and websites should be dynamic enough to work with, and fit seamlessly on, any of the variably sized Android devices.
Also, keep in mind that mobile sites no longer serve as pamphlets for consumers to research products — they must be designed for transactions. Mobile sites that can efficiently process a high volume of transactions will fare far better than their counterparts in 2015.
2. Highlight impulse items
Criteo’s report showed that the luxury and travel verticals had the highest percentage of mobile transactions, whereas home goods and health products lagged behind by approximately 15 percentage points.
This confirms what common sense tells us about mobile shoppers: They’re less interested in research and comparisons, and more interested in a quick checkout process. An expensive watch or purse, or a last-minute flight, usually requires less time than a new mattress.
Marketers for all verticals should then take note and optimize mobile assets to feature items that require less planning and more impulse. Big-ticket items that consumers tend to spend more time thinking about won’t deliver the immediate results on mobile that impulse options will.
3. Streamline transactions
Nothing frustrates mobile users more than obstacles. We know that they tend to have a good idea of what they want, so why make the conversion process harder than it needs to be?
Mobile shopping is often on-the-go, so a shopper could be interrupted at any time, potentially ruining a valuable conversion. Therefore, retailers need to ensure that the entire shopping process, from research to conversion, requires as few clicks as possible.
Marketers can also do their part by having ads link directly to a checkout page. Mobile ads should feature a personalized offer and a direct call-to-action, which will also go a long way toward decreasing clicks.
An actionable opportunity
The top quartile of retailers drive nearly 40 percent of ecommerce sales from mobile, whereas the bottom quartile is about 25 percent. The top retailers’ success is largely because their mobile shopping experience has been designed specifically to drive sales.
Consumers’ shopping habits have changed, and the mobile opportunity for brands has never been greater nor more imperative. The biggest ecommerce winners in 2015 will be those that most effectively capture and convert their mobile audiences.
More details on the sessions at Mobile Summit and be found on the event’s agenda page. Space is extremely limited — we’ve only got seats for a total of 180 executives — but it’s not too late to apply for one of the remaining seats.