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Fashion retailers championing mobile commerce innovation

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As London Fashion week gets underway, a new study shows that fashion retailers are embracing mobile commerce and many are working hard to make mobile user experience better.

So finds Ampersand’s 2017 Mobile Retail Report , a benchmarking report that compares and ranks high street retailers by mobile website features and usability. Criteria covered include touch payments, mobile page speed, geolocation, placement of primary store locator link, usability of mobile web forms, faceted navigation, product zoom, whether a retailer offers in-store stock check from its mobile website, and availability of features that allow for completion of tasks later – such as wishlisting and saving baskets.

According to the study, Burberry, Oasis, Warehouse and House of Fraser are the top rated mobile in multichannel retailers. Liberty, MiuMiu, Craghoppers and Asics are among the most improved. Laithwaites, Kiddicare, Dunnes Stores and Nespresso are the bottom rated, with much room for improvement (see table below).

2017 Mobile Retail Report league table:



























Top-rated mobile websites

Easiest to use, good multichannel services
Bottom-rated mobile websites

Much room for improvement
Most improved mobile websites

Based on like-for like-scores

Burberry (93*)

Oasis (89)

Warehouse (89)

House of Fraser (89)

Karen Millen (86)

B&Q (86)

Boots (82)

Go Outdoors (82)

Victoria’s Secret (79)

Snow & Rock (79)

Kurt Geiger (79)

Topshop (79)

 

* All Mobile Retail Matrix scores are out of 100 possible points
Laithwaites (4)

Kiddicare (7)

Dunnes Stores (11)

Nespresso UK ltd (14)

Jessops (14)

Barbour (14)

The Fragrance Shop (18)

Party Delights (20)

Smythson (21)

Scribbler (21)

Interflora (21)

Hamleys (21)
Liberty

Miu Miu

Craghoppers

Links of London

Asics

Multiyork Furniture

F.Hinds

Thorntons

Hughes Electrical

Early Learning Centre

 

 



 

Top-rated mobile websites by sector:



































Fashion Footwear Luxury Home & DIY Sports & Outdoors
Burberry (93)

House of Fraser (89)

Oasis (89)

Warehouse (89)

Karen Millen (86)
Kurt Geiger (79)

Jimmy Choo (77)

Clarks (71)

Dune (64)

Schuh (59)
Burberry (93)

Karen Millen (86)

Jimmy Choo (77)

Hugo Boss (75)

Selfridges (75)

Reiss (75)
B&Q (86)

Dreams (73)

Bensons for Beds (71)

Dunelm (71)

Homebase (70)
Go Outdoors (82)

Snow & Rock (79)

Craghoppers (71)

Cotswold Outdoor (70)

Halfords (68)



 

As part of its latest research, Ampersand partnered with YouGov to conduct a consumer survey to learn how consumers use their smartphones for different shopping-related tasks. This YouGov survey is a repeat from one published in 2015 to see if and how mobile shopping activity has changed over time.

Comparing the two YouGov survey results, it’s clear that consumers have become more comfortable using a mobile phone for ecommerce with:

  • 53% of consumers having bought a product on a mobile device (+22% from 2015)

  • 56% having researched a product with the intent to buy later in-store (+19% from 2015)

  • 71% having looked up the location/opening hours of a retailer 71% (+17% from 2015)

  • 47% use a mobile phone for ecommerce at least once a month (+14% from 2015)



Consumer appetite for cross-channel, mobile-initiated purchasing has increased by 22% since 2015 with 56% of consumers now having researched products on their mobile with the intent of purchasing later in-store. However, only 30% of high street retailers offer a store stock check from their mobile websites.

Whilst 71% of consumers have looked up the location or opening times of a retailer, only 68% of retailers display the main store locator link in the most prominent position on their mobile websites – the top menu. 44 percent of retailers do not utilise automatic or ‘find near me’ geolocation options on store locator pages, and 12% of retailers do not display store hours on their mobile websites at all, making it more difficult for consumers to find store information on the go.

User experience issues with mobile ecommerce websites are still largely unchanged. Consumers are still put off completing shopping-related tasks on their smartphone for two main reasons:



  1. It’s difficult to see products properly on a small device – 41% (+1% from 2015)

  2. It’s difficult to type/enter information on a small device – 32% (-2% from 2015)



41% of consumers cite difficulty seeing products on a small device as a key reason they’d be put off ecommerce activity on a mobile device, yet over a third (34%) of retailers don’t offer product zoom functionality on mobile websites.

32% of consumers say that it’s difficult to type information into mobile forms and nearly half (48%) of retailers are making it even harder to do so by not offering input-specific email and numerical keyboards within checkout.

Other interesting findings from the YouGov and Ampersand consumer survey include:

  • Parents of young children are significantly more active researching and purchasing on mobile devices than parents of older children or non-parents. 23% of parents of children under 4 years old use their smartphone for ecommerce a few times a week compared to just 12% of non-parents.

  • People aged 55+ are far more concerned about the security of their mobile connection when using their mobile device than other age demographics – 34% compared to 24% of those aged 45-54 and 18% of millennials (18-34).



“The mobile channel is continuing to grow. Last year it was reported that mobile internet usage had finally surpassed that of desktop.” said Darryl Adie, managing director of Ampersand.

He continues: “Read Ampersand’s Mobile Retail Report and be heartened. Most of the things we suggest are quick and affordable to action. Our aim is to provide retailers with benchmarking data, to make informed decisions about technology. We also hope to help uncover those little niggles on mobile ecommerce websites that may be hurting mobile conversion. Simple improvements can have a big, positive impact. Retailers not optimising their mobile websites in ways that matter to consumers are most certainly missing out on sales.”

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