News

Retailers embracing mobile but conversion rates sluggish

January 3, 2017

More retailers are embracing mobile and are making mobile device sales a priority in the new year.

Yet retailers are struggling to convert mobile device users, who tap smartphones for browsing, into bonafide shoppers, according to a new Shopgate study. As of the end of 2016, 53 percent of retailers reported less than 20 percent of total online sales were being done on a mobile device, according to a press release.

"In order to succeed in integrating mobile marketing and retail into a broader strategy, retailers must understand the unique aspects of mobile channels, how they are used by customers and the specific marketing strategies effective in these areas," stated Marc Biel, CEO, Shopgate, in the release. "In many cases, the strategic use of segmentation, targeted marketing and customer data to launch value-added notifications and drive customers to mobile apps improves customer relationships and customer perceptions of retailers’ brands."

Shopgate, a software-as-a-service shopping app platform, reported 80 percent of retailers polled claimed total online traffic comes through mobile devices.

Additional key findings include:

• When considering which benefits motivate companies to adopt mobile apps, 62 percent of retailers highlighted an increase in conversion rates. This metric has a slight lead over the 56 percent of those who want to improve customer engagement and the 52 percent who want to increase customer retention.
• In 2016, retailers used tools that contribute to building the mobile customer relationship via mobile apps. These include push notifications (32 percent), loyalty programs (30 percent), product availability (27 percent) and personalized offers (23 percent).

This year those polled plan to advance mobile notifications, adopt loyalty programs and 40 percent plan to spend anywhere from 20 percent to 80 percent of marketing budgets on mobile initiatives, stated the release.