Shopify reports that 82% of smartphone users consult their devices when making an in-store purchase. Add in the number of sales made exclusively on mobile devices and the importance of mobile optimization becomes unavoidable.
The challenge for many businesses, however, is developing a mobile eCommerce strategy that makes sense for them. Ultimately, going through this prior to investing time and money can be the difference between success and failure.
To help, we’ve outlined four mobile eCommerce trends to watch and included considerations for a successful mobile strategy.
Mobile eCommerce Trends To Look Out For
As mobile shopping experiences continue to evolve, brands will need to anticipate mobile shoppers. Specifically, they should cater to their needs in both a digital and in-person shopping experience.
Businesses can ensure a frictionless conversion path by offering native mobile checkouts. Integrating social marketing efforts with social selling will help to convert followers into customers.
As you create and implement your mobile strategy, we recommend keeping an eye out for these trends:
Anticipate Omni-Channel Shoppers
Offer Native Mobile Checkouts
Connect Social Marketing to Social Selling
Apps vs Mobile-Optimized Experiences
1. Anticipate Omni-Channel Shoppers
Reach your customers whenever and wherever they are ready to connect. Many in-person shoppers use their devices to validate purchases, so you should anticipate low, reduced bandwidth and longer load times. As a result, you should consider images sizes when optimizing your breakpoints.
We recommend compressing images or using different images for mobile breakpoints to speed up your site and improve mobile experience. If a site or page takes longer than three seconds to load, shoppers will likely move on. In fact, BigCommerce found that 40% of consumers will leave a site completely if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load.
2. Offer Native Mobile Checkouts
Thankfully, the days of pinch and zoom are far behind us when it comes to mobile eCommerce. However, the advent of mobile-optimized checkouts has revolutionized the way consumers interact on their devices.
When it comes to a mobile checkout experience, less is definitely more. Any opportunity to reduce clicks, screens, fields, taps and swipes will ultimately translate into more purchases.
PayPal, Apple Pay and Android Pay are good options to include that will speed up the check out process and make it easier for your customers. We love that BigCommerce natively includes these payment options with its eCommerce platform and highly recommend exploring its potential for your business.
3. Connect Social Marketing with Social Selling
Shopify found that 55% of customers have bought something online after discovering it on social media. If you already use social media as a marketing technique, try integrating it with your eCommerce platform.
This connection between platforms is an easy way to increase sales or site traffic. If you haven’t already, we recommend exploring shoppable Instagram posts if they make sense for your business.
Staying up to date with mobile eCommerce trends will keep your site run smoothly and create an enjoyable experience for customers. A happy customer becomes a loyal customer, and that results in increased sales and revenue.
Crafting A Mobile eCommerce Strategy
There are two specific mobile sales channels: mobile-optimized websites and apps. Each solution aligns with specific customer needs and determining the appropriate one for your business ultimately starts a solid strategy.
1. Understand the Audience
First, it’s vital to find out who your customers are and what they are look for in a mobile experience. Use Google Analytics to evaluate what devices and browser generate the most traffic from your site.
From there you can better answer questions about who your current customers are and how they shop. When you really understand the end users, you can set realistic goals and determine solutions that make sense for your business.
2. Identify the Goal
Once you’ve defined your audience, you must determine your overall goal in the mobile marketplace. Whether you aim to to increase customer satisfaction, drive traffic through eCommerce SEO or generate mobile sales, your goal will determine your mobile approach. Specifically, this can relate to AMP pages, image sizing, specific mobile breakpoints and more.
Different technologies can resolve different problems, so it’s essential at this stage to determine what you’re trying to accomplish. Clearly outline the desired actions you want your end-users to take and the ideal technology solution will start to materialize as you research.
Apps vs Mobile Websites
Mobile Apps
Dedicated mobile apps require a user to search for you in a marketplace, then download and open your custom application. Realistically, that process is full of opportunities for customer fall-off. Consider whether your business can develop loyal customers who will remain engaged throughout that process.
Also, app success does not end with downloads. You must provide a rich enough experience to make the app valuable to the customer well past the initial download.
Remember that mobile apps should not just regurgitate your entire online catalog. Rather, they should be focused on creating a rich and rewarding experience through valuable features and content.
Mobile-Optimized Websites
In this scenario, you have the ability to create a shopping experience that customers are familiar and comfortable with. As a result, they will be able to navigate and checkout with less acclimation. Building a mobile optimized store will also help your business show up in searches and allow users on different devices to view explore your products.
3. Deploy the Strategy
If you take steps to understand current mobile eCommerce trends and how they can be implemented for your business, you can develop a strategy that is more likely to convert mobile traffic into dollars for your company.
Conclusion
Although we don’t believe every business should follow mobile eCommerce trends, we always recommend keeping up-to-date with the latest industry practices. For more inspiration, check out these 5 highly optimized mobile eCommerce sites.
Want to learn more about how to improve your website’s mobile eCommerce experience and prepare your mobile store for a website launch? Learn more about our eCommerce Website Design services and contact us to get started.
Shopify reports that 82% of smartphone users consult their devices when making an in-store purchase. Add in the number of sales made exclusively on mobile devices and the importance of mobile optimization becomes unavoidable.
