European consumers have high expectations from mobile, with 44% of EU-7 online adults stating that they are more likely to return to a website in the future if it is mobile-friendly
So finds the latest Forrester online commerce data forecast, which predicts online sales growth in Western Europe will continue to be ‘double digit’ between now and 2022 – but mobile is key.
According to Forrester, over the next five years, Western European online retail sales will grow at over three times the rate of total retail sales. Increased consumer connectivity across multiple digital devices, particularly smartphones, is driving online sales growth.
Retailers must prioritize improving customer experience (CX) to capture a greater share of growing online sales. The key: Focus on operational improvements to elevate CX.
How? Among other initiatives, optimisation of delivery options to meet customer expectations of convenience and the improvement of the ease and speed of customers’ checkout processes, particularly on smaller screen devices like smartphone are key says the research.
The research goes on to say that 89% of EU-7 online adults use smartphones as their primary mobile phone, compared with 85% of US mobile owners, while 85% of mobile phone owners access the internet at least weekly on a mobile phone.
Retailers across the board have seen a surge in the proportion of web traffic coming from mobile devices.
However, conversion rates from these devices have not moved in the same direction. Customers’ smartphones are an important touchpoint for retailers to connect and influence across the customer journey — and may sooner influence an in-store purchase than yield an order right on the mobile site.
Nevertheless, retailers must do more to move the dial on mobile conversion rates by augmenting payment options and reducing the number of required steps and clicks during checkout — where ease of use and speed are a top priority for their customers.
