Study shows the growing influence of the mobile web on e-commerce sales

Qubit, a provider of software solutions for real-time personalization in e-commerce, publishes a comprehensive report that highlights the impact of the mobile web on e-commerce sales. The analysis includes results from over 1.2 billion customer journeys from January to December 2017, supplemented by a representative survey in which over 4,000 consumers in Germany, the UK, France and the USA were questioned about their user behavior. The evaluation of the two studies clarifies the role of the mobile web and the causes of low mobile conversion rates.

The analysis was conducted with 46 brands from the fashion, health & beauty and multi-category retailers. The key findings are as follows:

Mobile surfing and shopping influence the overall sales of multi-channel retailers: Sales influenced by the mobile web averaged 19 percent in 2017 - in the fashion industry even 24 percent. Compared to 2016, the share thus increased by 93 percent. Although smartphones are the preferred medium for product searches, users often do not find the products they are looking for quickly enough or that inspire them to buy, and subsequently abandon the mobile journey. Checkout processes on mobile devices are no longer the main reason for bounce rates. The biggest challenge in mobile shopping is to display products that inspire customers and make product searches more efficient. A clear correlation between sales and the size of the product catalog could be proven for online stores.

Users want to see variety and relevant products at the same time

• For 67 percent of consumers, the payment method is not a significant barrier to purchasing with smartphones.
• 48 percent agree that they find product search and shopping on mobile sites frustrating.
• 61 percent of consumers would rather use their smartphone for product search as well as inspiration than for purchasing specific items.
• 44 percent would make purchases on the mobile web if they could find exactly what they were looking for.

If you want to fully exploit the potential of the mobile web, online retailers must accordingly focus on making product search and selection more suitable and effective for users as the variety of articles increases. With mobile web influencing up to 19 percent of total online sales in 2017, smart solutions are taking on great importance in this area.

"We are all aware of the importance of the mobile web. But this report shows that multi-channel retailers are overlooking an important connection," said Graham Cooke, CEO of Qubit. "Our study proves that better mobile product discovery can increase online sales by up to 33 percent. Therefore, online retailers need to consider the way customers can find or see relevant products in a large assortment. We are investing significantly in AI-driven product discovery for mobile. This is because we see a huge opportunity to increase sales, which is only put together by the mobile device."

Qubit Aura" shows how far artificial intelligence has already advanced in the field of online retailing. The AI-driven product for retailers is built on top of an existing mobile website. As the user moves around the online store, Qubit Aura adapts to the respective actions in real time and creates a product feed based on customer behavior. Products can be searched for based on preferences, context and purchase intent. The fact that users are shown twice as many products on average during their discovery phase makes it clear that the standard search in online stores is outdated.