Mobile continues to dominate in retail worldwide, with the UK and Northern Europe leading the way.
According to analysis of the browsing and buying behaviour of 5000 retailers across more than 80 countries, Criteo finds that mobile devices accounted for 54% of online transactions in Q3 2018, placing the UK behind only Sweden, Norway and Japan, with the Northern Europe region coming in as the clear mobile leader. Smartphones experienced notable growth through a 10% year-on-year increase in transactions, while tablets fell by 26%.
This is in turn leading to the increased importance of shopping apps. On average, European retailers who actively promote their shopping apps see 60% of transactions take place on mobile, while also experiencing improved conversion rates when compared to other channels. App conversions (17%) are noticeably higher than both mobile web (5%) and desktop (12%), positioning them as the ideal method for retailers to drive sales and stand out from competitors.
According to the report, transactions completed on mobile web – especially on smartphones – continued growing in most countries and regions. Similarly, the share of app transactions for advertisers who promote their shopping app has continued to steadily increase over time.
Omnichannel customers, meanwhile, have the highest lifetime value, on average generating 27% of all sales, despite representing only seven% of all customers. According to the study, omnichannel customers generate 27% of all sales, despite representing only 7% of all customers. Consequently, omnichannel retailers that can combine their offline and online data can apply over four times as much sales data to optimise their marketing efforts.
Looking geographically, mobile transactions account for 40% (North America) to 52% (Asia Pacific) of all transactions globally. In the US, share of sales via smartphone increased 14% in Q3 2018 compared to Q3 2017.
Brazil experienced a strong spike in smartphone usage with a 41% increase in mobile shopping in Q3 2018 compared to Q3 2017, while Northern Europe, including Sweden (60%) and Norway (57%), and Japan (54%) have emerged as leaders in mobile transactions.
“With sustained growth in mobile transactions in most countries and in-app purchases in all, retailers are well positioned to drive awareness, consideration and conversion through digital audiences,” said Jaysen Gillespie, Vice President and Head of Analytics and Data Science, Criteo. “But this doesn’t mean brick-and-mortar is dead. Our Q3 Global Commerce Review found that the omnishopper is one of the most valuable audiences, demonstrating the desire from consumers to have both an in-person experience and the convenience of purchasing online.”
