43% of e-commerce traffic – and pretty much 100% of all e-commerce traffic growth – now comes from phones, almost matching the 46% that comes from ‘traditional’ online, according to the Demandware Shopping Index for the fourth quarter of 2015.
The Demandware study of more than 200million visits from UK shoppers found that mobiles now take some 23% of orders, while online ‘PC’ based shopping accounts for 63% of orders. Tablets get just 11% of traffic and 14% of orders.
Time on site also shows decline across all devices as consumers trim their site visits. According to the study, average time per visit online is 8.7 minutes, down 11% on 2014. For mobile, average time on site per visit is 7.5 minutes, down 19%.
The picture this paints is that, while mobile is increasingly the channel of choice for many shoppers, it is part of a more complex journey towards buying – a journey that clearly ends more often on a desktop. Lower dwell times across all channels is somewhat misleading, as overall visits are up 14%, baskets are up 18% and orders are up 18%.
Shoppers are doing more, in shorter visits, but overall they are buying more.
The reports says: “The traditional linear shopping path has been forever altered by new technology, changing shoppers and omnichannel shopping. Amidst this change, baskets and basket rates have climbed. Retailers that best use the basket as a shopping tool and a marketing engagement vehicle will thrive. Those that harken to legacy metrics like abandonment rate will lose sight of a changing landscape – baskets are the currency of cross-channel engagement.
“Retailers should look to frame their business performance around the shopper. In doing so, the true story of shopper activity will point to and identify opportunities to increase shopper spend and frequency.”
The report also finds that 61% of mobile traffic and 62% of mobile sales come from iOS, the rest come from Android. It also shows that 80% of millennials are likely to experience a retail brand for the first time on a mobile – something to tell your market department.
