Mobile shopping

Consumers are eager to discover mobile shopping possibilities. Independent research sponsored by ATG unveals how and why customers shop with their mobile devices (m-commerce).

The research shows that 14% of consumers already tried to shop online with their mobile phone. However, most of them (11%) found this to be hard. ATG concludes that retailers and manufacturers need to address the bottlenecks in the mobile shopping process in order to boost mobile shopping.

Retailers contemplating how to sell to the 40 million-plus active users of mobile Internet in the U.S. alone (per researcher Nielsen Mobile) could start their mobile approach by providing shopping info via a mobile device. Recent research from Shop.org found that half of consumers aged 18 to 34 are using their mobile devices to shop offline more efficiently and with better information.

Fast growth in m-commerce sales

Global m-commerce is accelerating in global consumer adoption faster than the pundits anticipated. A nice reflection of this is eBay’s recent announcement regarding its mobile app for the iPhone and its m-commerce site which have generated $380 million in sales so far this year. With the assumption that the current pace continues, the m-commerce channel for eBay will be 5-6% of its total revenue for 2009, achieved without an elaborately defined effort – just an experimental toe dip.

Little in-house development

InternetRetailer.com found that 83.4% of retailers in m-commerce use vendors to build and help maintain their mobile sites and apps. Numerous vendors are building m-commerce sites and apps, but five have emerged as leaders. mPoria, CardinalCommerce, Moonshadow eCommerce, Usablenet and Digby are the players to watch in mobile commerce technology.

The top reasons for abandoning shopping carts found in a Paypal survey last July shows similar concerns. 21% of buyers reported that they had stopped shopping on a site because of worries about the security of their credit card data.

McAfee recommends three interesting strategies to combat abandoned shopping carts:

• Make consumers feel safe on every page: use transparent privacy policies and security seals throughout the entire shopping experience.
• Be patient, don’t panic: there is a risk in approaching shopping cart abandoners too soon. Merchants should factor in realistic timetables for shoppers to complete their transaction.
• Optimize the entire site: retailers should not neglect a larger site abandonment and focus only on optimizing check-out.

“Consumers are growing tired of ‘filters’ reducing the transparency of their interaction with the producer of the goods, reducing authenticity of the goods and services they purchase. They want more direct access to the sources of goods and expect more from the retailer – it’s not enough to source the goods alone, retailers need to source better, more often and for less,” Sands said.

The changing landscape means retailers would have to fight harder for customer share and come up with innovative and inventive ways to retain customer loyalty.

Standard packshot photographs have a neutral white background and ground surface. For most products the front view is the most important and thus the standard. This is especially true with products were user interface or size is important like for example consumer electronics. 3D views and perspective are applied more with decorative products and clothing.

Here are three examples, click them to see their true size:

The combination of focal points of the different genders is key for today’s webshop development. Special attention for the female approach requires more focus on inspiration and ‘the experience’ during product visualization.

“Merchants who don’t welcome back abandoners with open arms are leaving hundreds of dollars per shopper on the table,” says Eddie Davis, senior director of services for small and midsized businesses at PayPal. “Merchants need to remember the items that customers abandon and make it easy for them to buy when they return. Sweetening the deal with free shipping, coupons and special discounts is also a great way to encourage online shoppers to complete their purchases.”

Here are the top reasons survey respondents give for abandoning shopping carts:

Consumers more often go online for the purchase of products and services. Motives behind the growth seem to be easy comparison, more choice and more extensive payment- and credit possibilities.

Personal recommendation

According to the report, over one third of online shoppers use a search engine to find an online shop. Also interesting is that one in four relies on word of mouth.