Hopefully you’ll find something useful or enlightening here.

Retailers could do more for mobile shoppers

Somo analysed the mobile capabilities of the top 50 high street retailers, finding that:

  • 40% do not have a mobile optimised store locator.
  • 20% don’t have a transactional mobile site.
  • 30% don’t have an iOS app.
  • 28% don’t have an Android app.
  • 44% do not have a tablet optimised site.
  • 46% don’t support responsive web design.  

Understanding the mobile customer journey

Our latest study, The Retailer’s Imperative: Strategic Approaches to Customer Experience conducted in partnership with SDL revealed how retailers are mastering customer experience across channels. Here’s a sneak peek at the findings…

We asked our respondents: “how well does your organisation understand the customer journey for the following audiences?” (this chart shows responses for ’strong understanding’).

The results of previous investment in understanding the mobile customer journey are evident as more than half are now satisfied with their knowledge of their customers’ mobile journeys. 

Various technical issues have hampered tracking and measurement efforts, and mobile has the lowest proportion of respondents saying they have a ‘strong understanding’ but the tide has turned, with more than 50% responding positively.

More than one quarter of Consumers to use mobile payments in 2015

eGifter revealed the following research on consumers and their expectations of the digital payments experience:  

  • 27% of consumers plan to use some form of mobile payments in the next 6 months
  • 53% have reached for a plastic gift card at the register only to realise they left it at home
  • 40% would scan their plastic gift cards into a mobile wallet

Consumer concerns about mobile payments

Data from Walker Sands revealed that while cash use is on the decline and mobile payments are on the rise, eight out of 10 consumers have some concerns about mobile payment services, with the most popular concerns rooted in security (57%) and privacy (48%).

  • While 56% of consumers rank cash as the most secure form of payment, only 11% have paid for something in cash in the last day, down from 27% in the past year. 
  • The majority of consumers (59%) have $20 or less in their wallets.
  • 40% of consumers have used a mobile payment application in the past year, up from just 8% in 2013.
  • While only 4% of consumers have used Apple Pay in the past year, 18% say its introduction makes them more likely to make a purchase with their smartphone in the near future.

Mobile clicks have overtaken desktop

Marin Software announced its quarterly benchmark report revealing that clicks on mobile devices have overtaken desktop for the first time.

  • Mobile now accounts for 44.8% of ad impressions, 50% of clicks, 46% of spend and 43% of conversions in the UK.
  • Search ads on tablets achieved the highest click through rate in Q4 2014. This contrasts with the US and rest of the Eurozone where smartphone ads are more successful at converting sales.
  • While desktops continue to command the greatest share of conversions, (57% compared to 8.1% via smartphones and 25% via a tablet), the cost per click (CPC) is considerably higher than for a smartphone click.
  • Share of conversions on smartphones increased 6%
  • Overall Mobile (smartphone and tablet combined) conversions are also climbing year on year with a 8.9% increase since Q4 2013, in contrast to an 8.3% drop for desktop conversions. 

Responsive email design is no longer optional

Instiller and Wyzowl have created this infographic full of stats to show how responsive email design is email design. Including insight such as: of the 119 minutes we spend on our mobile device each day, nine minutes (7.6%) are spent on email.

Click below for a much longer version.

33% of Shopify orders came from mobile

Shopify published its year in review, revealing some interesting trends based on the 140,000+ businesses that use its platform.

In 2014, one third of ecommerce orders came from a mobile device rather than a computer.

Mobile commerce is rising

IMRG and Capgemini’s Quarterly Benchmark reveals that mobile now accounts for 40% of all online retail sales. This figure is up from 37% in the previous quarter, and represents the steepest quarterly rise in the rate of mobile retail penetration since Q4 2013/14, when mobile devices accounted for 32% of online sales. 

One in four mobile commerce sales are now done through smartphones.

Spend on Facebook mobile app ads jumps 235% while CTR falls as competition increases

Global advertisers who use Facebook mobile app adverts to promote and drive downloads of mobile apps from Google Play and the Apple app stores increased their spend on this ad unit over 2014, with monthly spend rising 235% in December compared with January, according to Kenshoo’s App Marketing Summit.  

Impressions for these ads went up by 65% during the year while installs of mobile apps from the ads increased by 182%.

At the same time click-through rate (CTR) on Facebook mobile app ads fell by 27% over the year, indicating the greater competition for clicks in this sector as more companies advertise their ecommerce (including retail), gaming and consumer apps.

Mobile ad spend to overtake desktop by end of 2015

Marin Software has revealed that advertisers will spend more on mobile than desktop ads by the end of 2015.

Paid search clicks on mobile devices are predicted to break 50% of the overall paid search market by mid-Q4 2015.

Desktop search ads had an average conversion rate of 10.3%, while desktop social ads had a conversion rate of 1.1%, and desktop display ads had a 3.1% conversion rate. This compares to mobile conversion rates of 7.1% (search), 0.4% (social), and 2.6% (display).

By the end of 2014, the majority of clicks on display ads came from smartphones and tablets.

Social ads on mobile work. Overal 62% of all social ad clicks come from smartphones and tablets.

Mobile app transactions increase 

NN4M reported an average 40% increase in iPhone, Android and iPad app transactions between 21 November 2014 and 4 January 2015 compared to the same time in the previous year.

It also saw a 250% increase in Android app sales and a 37% increase in iPhone app sales over the same shopping period.

When comparing sales overall for 2014 compared to 2013, NN4M found that Android showed by far the strongest growth with a 206% increase in like-for-like sales, while iPhone grew by 67% and iPad grew by 58%.

App engagement faltering

Ampersand Mobile released new findings from its survey on consumer attitudes to brand mobile marketing, revealing that brands are failing in their efforts to engage with consumers using apps. 

  • 71% believe branded apps do not engage and merely market and push content
  • 54% avoid big brand apps, as they see them as just a one way marketing tool
  • 62% think apps have reached market saturation and something new is needed

Here’s the latest word on apps from our blog: Seven reasons why retailers should have an app (and six why they shouldn’t)

Mobile use for travel and holidays rapidly becoming the norm

One in four people use their mobiles to book (28%) or pay (24%) for their daily commute, a figure double that of 2013.

This is according to new research from BuzzCity revealing the habits of today’s connected traveller. Holiday booking habits have also changed noticeably. There has been an increase of 50% in mobile use across business and leisure travellers, with 30% relying purely on their mobiles to make last minute bookings.

This makes mobile the most preferred device for ticket purchases or room bookings.

Mobile will be a driving force in the travel industry for 2015

The growth of mobile isn’t slowing down and will be a driving force for the travel industry in 2015.  

Mobile was highlighted by travel companies as the most exciting opportunity for 2015 in our Quarterly Digital Intelligence Briefing.

Travel companies need to therefore ensure their websites are optimised for mobile, to allow for easy navigation, engaging content and a personalised experience.  Those that don’t will lose potential customers as mobile use is rapidly becoming the norm

For loads more up-to-date statistics…

Download Econsultancy’s Internet Statistics Compendium, a collection of the most recent statistics and market data publicly available on online marketing, ecommerce, the internet and related digital media.

It’s updated monthly and covers 11 different topics from advertising, content, customer experience, mobile, ecommerce and social.