Retailers Paying the Price for Poor Mobile Offerings

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Paying by mobile is not always as easy as it should be

UK retailers could be missing out on as much as £1.2bn through abandoned mobile purchases, according to new research from Webloyalty, which provides online savings programmes for retailers and travel companies.

86 per cent of UK consumers said they had had to abandon a purchase on their phone or tablet, with 68 per cent citing internet connectivity problems as the main cause for leaving a product behind, in a study commissioned by Webloyalty and carried out by Conlumino, who questioned 2,031 consumers in the UK during August 2015 about their use of mobile devices for shopping.

Those not citing network issues as the reason for abandoning purchases stated that issues with the retailers’ websites – either a lack of optimisation for mobile devices (15 per cent); failure to process the transaction (13 per cent); or the website crashing altogether (10 per cent) – were reasons for abandoning a purchase. A further 2.2 per cent also complained that mobile versions of sites don’t carry the full range of products available on the regular website or in store.

41 per cent of respondents said they browse via phones and tablets and then complete the purchase later on a different device. The research also showed that security is still a concern when it comes to buying via mobile devices, with 22 per cent of respondents saying that they do not feel payments are secure when shopping via a phone or tablet.

Only one in eight (12 per cent) of consumers shopping outside the home via a phone or tablet buy the product immediately, and shopping on mobile devices peaks in the evening between 8 and 9:30pm. 32 per cent of consumers surveyed said they buy the products they viewed on the move, later on the same device.

“There is a call to action here,” said Guy Chiswick, MD of Webloyalty Northern Europe. “Not only do network providers need to upgrade connectivity for UK consumers, retailers need to provide good quality, free wi-fi and ensure that their websites are optimised for mobile devices. Mobile sites and apps need to be as functional as their desktop sites. Google’s algorithm update earlier this year means that customers are more likely to click through and make purchases from mobile-friendly sites.

“Security and convenience are other barrier preventing consumers from shopping on mobile devices. By offering faster, more secure payment routes such as one-click payments, not only would retailers benefit from the additional transactions, but consumers’ confidence in mobile shopping would increase even further.”