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Gartner’s prediction about the year 2013, that is, that “mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most common Web access device worldwide” (Gartner, 2010), is beginning to ring more true. The trends in mobile web searches are quadrupling each year (see The Growth of M-Commerce), and the number of mobile web users has now topped 1 billion, which equals to 17% of the entire global population. According to Gartner’s forecast, “the total number of PCs in use will reach 1.78 billion units in 2013. By 2013, the combined installed base of smartphones and browser-equipped enhanced phones will exceed 1.82 billion units and will be greater than the installed base for PCs thereafter.” Now, to bring more facts. Of the 6 billion worldwide mobile subscriptions, in 2011, around 700 million used a smartphone (mobiThinking). And more evaluation. Of the estimated 9 billion worldwide mobile subscriptions, in 2017, around 3 billion will use a smartphone.
If you check out the numbers from the Google’s case study “Our Mobile Planet: Global Smartphone Users” (February, 2012), you will notice clearly that mobile is an emerging point of purchase.
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The Image 1 stats displayed are from the research that focused on markets in US, UK, France, Germany, Spain and Japan only. However, the trending usage of mobile devices to access web services in comparison to desktop browsing is alarmingly high. And it turns the mobile shoppers into a priority target for Web retailers. According to further results from the study, at least half of mobile shoppers make purchases monthly on their smartphones. Leading markets are US with 63%, UK and Japan with 54% of mobile web users making monthly purchases via smartphone.
Smartphones have significantly changed the way Americans shop and make purchase decisions. 96% of smartphone owners use their mobile devices to research product and service information. 35% intentionally have their smartphones with them to compare prices and find product info while on the go, and 32 % have actually changed their mind about purchasing a product while in a store as a result of smartphone research. Smartphones are thus making us smarter shoppers and are influential at the point of purchase.
— They conclude at Google
You can download the complete infographic from the Google’s Mobile Planet research to gain more insight on the mobile users behavior in US. Or, take a peek at a snapshot below.
80% of mobile shoppers will leave, 80% of web retailers don’t care
80% of customers will abandon a mobile site if they have a bad user experience. They will do the same for the desktop site which doesn’t load in under 4 seconds. Meanwhile, 80% of web retailers are doing nothing to optimize their site for mobile device users, which would in result:
- provide smooth user experience
- increase their sales
Why is it clear that smartphones have become a critical part of the shopping process. And how is it not clear that websites that are not mobile friendly will become a market barrier for their owners?
57% of smartphone searchers conduct searches every day on their phones. Another stats display (below) from the Google’s Mobile Planet research, points to a percentage of the mobile Web users that will actually make purchases via their smartphone.
Research on smartphones, acceding to Google, also leads to purchases across channels. 37% end up purchasing online and 32% prefer to purchase in-store after having conducted research on a product or service on their smartphones.
To quickly add tablets to the equation. And a quicker mention: 68.7 million media tablets were sold in 2011. Adobe’s “The Impact of Tablet Visitors on Retail Websites” study suggests that tablet users spend over 50% more per purchase at online retailers when compared with smartphone visitors, and 20% more when compared with traditional laptop and desktop visitors.
Do you still think that you can miss having a mobile optimized site, and offer your customers best experience, best price, best time span? Because they are more engaged now, they will know if you are not – all that. And abandon you.
10 Numbers for M-Commerce Businessmen
- 1.2 billion people uses mobile web
- In May 2012, 10% of all Website hits/pageviews came from a mobile device
- 21% of mobile device users expect their load times on their phone to be about equal with their desktop
- 45% of the world’s population is now covered by a 3G mobile network
- 50% of mobile shoppers make purchases monthly on their smartphones
- 57% of smartphone searchers conduct searches every day on their phones
- 79% of mobile Web users use it for shopping
- 79% of Web retailers still do not have mobile-friendly sites
- 96% of smartphone owners use their mobile devices to research product and service information
- in 2017, around 3 billion will use a smartphone
