Looks like 2014, a year that saw many mobile milestones, may end on a very high note for retailers with mobile commerce web sites and apps. 37% of U.S. owners of smartphones and tablets say they will do more shopping on their mobile devices than they will in physical stores this holiday season, according to new research from Dynatrace (formerly Compuware APM), an application performance management firm.
What’s more, 42% of mobile users plan to do more shopping on their mobile devices this holiday season than they did last holiday season, finds the survey of 1,353 U.S. owners of smartphones and/or tablets. The survey was conducted in October by Harris Poll. 25% of mobile users say they will make purchases on their mobile devices even while standing in the aisles of stores, the survey says.
“Mobile shopping has transformed holiday commerce—in fact, retailers are at a tipping point, as they must perform for mobile users or perish at the hands of competitors,” says Erwan Paccard, director of omnichannel strategy at Dynatrace. “Smartphones and tablets are accompanying customers into stores and becoming virtual shopping assistants. And when users encounter poor-performing mobile sites and apps, they buy from competitors and broadcast their frustrations. Retailers who don’t prepare for the mobile holiday shopping storm do so at their own peril.”
Other survey findings include:
- 56% of smartphone/tablet owners plan to use devices to search for and/or buy gifts this holiday season. That’s up 7 percentage points from 2013.
- Retailers will find Gen Y shoppers age 18 to 34 on their smartphones and tablets. 76% will use smartphones and/or tablets to find and buy gifts this holiday season, 10 percentage points higher than last year, and 61% say they will do more mobile holiday shopping this year than last.
- 26% of smartphone/tablet owners say they will use their smartphones or tablets to make purchases even when they are in physical stores shopping for gifts—and the number surges to 41% for Millennials. Additionally, 53% will compare prices, 47% will read product reviews and 51% will download coupons.
- 46% of smartphone/tablet owners will shop elsewhere if a mobile site or app fails to load in three seconds or less, up 9 percentage points from last year, and once they connect, 80% say they will abandon a mobile app or site if it is buggy, slow or prone to crashes, and shop elsewhere.
- Using social media to complain about poor online shopping experiences is a growing platform for disappointed smartphone/tablet owners. Millennials are leading the way with 44% likely to jump on social media to air their frustrations.
- 45% of all smartphone and/or tablet owners, and 59% of Millennials, say they prefer mobile apps over mobile web sites. Last year, only 34% of all smartphone/tablet users said they would be using company-specic mobile apps.
Follow Bill Siwicki, editor of the 2015 Internet Retailer Mobile 500 and managing editor, mobile commerce, at Internet Retailer, at @IRmcommerce.
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