Shoppers continue to flock online to buy, with the use of mobile growing quickly, a new study finds. But while smartphone use grew quickly in the fourth quarter of 2015, traffic from tablet computers fell.
The Demandware Shopping Index for the fourth quarter of 2015 analysed more than 200m visits from UK shoppers to find that orders grew by 14% over the quarter, with site visits up by 5%.
It found that while phones accounted for all growth in visits and baskets and took the largest share of order growth, tablet traffic fell. Phones’ took a 43% share of all online traffic in the fourth quarter of 2015, with 23% of order value. But tablets shaw their traffic fall by 19% to 11%, while their share of orders fell by 10% to 14%.
The fourth quarter figures also suggested that the average time spent on a visit was down by 13%, and the average time per phone visit was down by 20%. Demandware suggests that the rise of personalisation will make shopping visits more efficient, so that shoppers spend less time finding and buying the item they want.
“In 2015, the shopper went mobile. This is driving the mobile-first mandate for retailers,” said Rick Kenney, head of consumer insights at Demandware. “More and more shoppers are interacting with brands for the first time through their mobile devices. Particularly when targeting millennials, who overwhelmingly experience a brand for the first time on their phone, it is necessary to provide a simple and quick experience.”
