The proportion of consumer reviews displayed on mobile devices has more than doubled from 1.8% to 3.7% in the last six months, while the conversion rate when people read a review is 42% higher on mobiles than when they read one elsewhere, according to new data collated by social commerce company Reevoo. The figures provide compelling evidence for the growing importance of mobile as a social commerce medium.
Analysis of data collected by Reevoo, which is lead sponsor of this month’s mobile and social retail conference at Internet Retailing Expo on 22 March shows that 44% more people accessed retailer sites via mobile devices than they did in the previous six months and more than 10% of all the reviews collected by Reevoo are now submitted via mobile devices, up 27% in just six months.
Richard Anson, founder and chief executive of Reevoo, said ahead of his presentation and panel appearances at IRX: “Mobile penetration in the UK is 130%, with smartphone penetration at 46% and growing fast. And people are clearly ever more comfortable using their mobile device for tasks like reading or writing reviews, and the act of purchasing itself, when once they would have returned to their laptop.
“The growth area for online retail is undoubtedly ‘mobile’, and fertilising this growth by providing mobile social commerce functionality to customers ought to be a top priority for any retailer,” he added. “Finally, it’s vital that retailers prioritise the mobile and social media channels for social commerce correctly, and they absolutely must grasp that social commerce is far broader than social media.”
Reevoo displays more than 750 million items of review content every month, meaning that more than nearly 28 million reviews are displayed on mobile devices every month – almost a million every day.
