Buying intent among UK shoppers in Q4 2017 increased at the greatest rate seen in nine quarters, found Salesforce’s Shopping Index, cited by RetailTechNews. A total 22% of consumers showed a buying signal when browsing a retail site, such as searching, adding an item to a cart, or beginning the checkout process.
The Index further showed that the number of UK shoppers who ended up purchasing products jumped by one quarter during Q4 last year, with UK retailers enjoying a 9% boost in online traffic compared with the previous year.
Mobile was largely responsible for driving new website visits, with traffic increasing by 21%. This led to 67% of overall traffic coming from mobile devices, proving that shoppers in the UK are becoming increasingly mobile. This is also the case with mobile ordering, which accounted for 40% of all orders in Q4 2017.
A growing trend is social’s influence over the purchasing journey, with 4% of all traffic deriving from social platforms – a 33% increase over 2016’s figure. The study notes that the strong performance witnessed in Q4 did come at a cost, however, with discount rates and free shipping reaching 22% and 72%, respectively. This resulted in a slight decline in average order value, as well as more margin pressure.
Flawed experiences cause consumers to desert their carts
Another study reported on by TechMarketNews, this time by Adressy, found that almost 40% of shoppers abandoned their shopping cart on a mobile device when they encountered issues entering their personal details.
The digital shoppers polled noted a wealth of other problems; around 35% said they had struggled when they couldn’t see what they were typing due to the screen size, and over a quarter found it difficult inputting their order correctly. An additional third said they lost interest in a certain item when they lost internet connection.
Yet, despite these challenges, more people are shopping via mobile devices than ever before. M-commerce sales equalled $1.36tn (£1tn) last year, predicts eMarketer, accounting for 58.9% of digital sales – a huge increase from the 40.2% recorded in 2015.
Here at River Island, we’re currently embarking on a mammoth digital transformation to ensure a seamless shopping experience for every customer.
If you’re ready to join our forward-thinking team, search our vacancies today.
Source:
https://www.retailtechnews.com/2018/02/08/buying-intent-increasing-uk-mobile-consumers-will-desert-cart-experience-flawed/