Poor Design and User Experience Causes 50 Percent of Shoppers to Abandon Retailers’ Mobile Apps and Sites With Christmas just 14 days away and mobile shopping in full swing, new research reveals that 48 percent of smartphone shoppers and 50 percent of tablet shoppers will abandon a retail brand altogether if they have a poor mobile shopping experience. “The 2013 Mobile Shopping Satisfaction Report” by mobile engagement provider Mobiquity (www.mobiquityinc.com) found that Target is now the most-browsed mobile app/site, and Apple’s mobile app/site is where consumers purchase the most — both usurping Wal-Mart’s prior top position in Mobiquity’s 2012 study. Mobiquity commissioned ResearchNow to study the mobile shopping experiences of 1,000 consumers at 20 of the top retail brands. The second-annual report can be downloaded here and an infographic illustrating the findings can be found here.
Compared to Mobiquity’s 2012 study of retail brands’ mobile apps and sites, the volume of mobile shopping has increased significantly in 2013, in some cases even tripling. For example, in 2012, 14 percent of consumers shopped at Apple using smartphones; in 2013, this soared to 49 percent. And then it comes to 2013 holiday gift shopping, 49 percent said they they’ll spending $100 or more using smartphone apps — a sharp increase from last year’s 23 percent.
Design and user experience (UX) problems cause abandoned mobile shopping carts
Mobiquity’s 2013 research revealed that issues with the design and user experience of retailers’ mobile apps and sites are the leading causes of shoppers giving up on a brand. By comparison, in 2012, slow-loading mobile apps and sites were shoppers’ chief complaint. The new study found that:
Only nine percent of respondents think that the mobile shopping experience is better than online. By contrast, 35 percent think it is worse.
Mobile drives traffic in-store The study also found that mobile browsing does not always lead to mobile shopping. In fact, after browsing retailers’ mobile apps and sites, 35 percent of consumers went on to complete their purchase in-store. Fewer than 16 percent completed purchases on smartphones. Forty percent did not complete a purchase after browsing on a mobile device.
“Mobile shopping has grown exponentially year-on-year but the mobile experience still has a long way to go before it comes close to matching or surpassing online shopping,” said Andrew Hiser, chief creative officer, Mobiquity. “Until retailers fix their design and UX issues, they will continue to leave money on the table.”
To access the full report, please visit: www.mobiquityinc.com/retail-mobile-sat-report-2
To access the infographic, please visit: www.mobiquityinc.com/retail-mobile-sat-infographic-2
Methodology From Nov. 6-11, 2013, ResearchNow surveyed 1,000 consumers who use smartphones and tablets and evaluated their experiences shopping at 20 brick-and-mortar retailers selected from among STORES Magazine’s top 100 and Favorite 50 lists of retailers.
Mobiquity/Marketwire