Online shopping: Mobile traffic soars but consumers still prefer to buy via desktop - Contentsquare report
Consumers may be turning to their mobiles to browse online stores, but desktop still rules the roost when it comes to making actual purchases, according to new figures from experience analytics firm Contentsquare.
The firm analysed traffic across four billion sessions across six industries and regional markets in Asia Pacific between October and November, and found that the mobile user experience is more important than ever.
People are most interested in purchasing consumer electronics (which received 27.6% of direct traffic), followed by fashion retail (27.3%) and grocery (24.9). Desktop traffic for the beauty sector also rose 70.9% during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
According to the statistics, there was a 90% rise in mobile traffic across Black Friday and Cyber Monday, compared to a 46% increase in traffic over desktop. In Australia, mobile traffic rose 42% while the overall APAC traffic rose 19%.
Despite the growth in mobile, it seems that people prefer to buy their products via desktop during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. There was a 109% increase in desktop conversions during this period compared to a 75% rise in mobile conversions.
The results show that search engine optimisation (SEO) drove the most traffic (32% of traffic), however, search engine advertising (SEA) was responsible for more purchases (29%). Australia bucked this trend, however, with 29.7% of sessions in Australia coming from SEO and 31.9% of buying sessions driven via SEA.
Contentsqare APAC regional VP David Bochsler says that eCommerce firms need to optimise the mobile user experience.
"Earlier this year, our 2021 Digital Experience Benchmark study uncovered that over two-thirds of total website traffic in Asia Pacific came from smartphones in 2020. The trend looks set to continue as we increasingly rely on our mobile phones for convenient, socially-distanced access to goods and services.
"In order to unlock the incredible potential of this user environment, brands need to better understand how consumers interact with them on their smartphones. There is a remarkable opportunity to harness digital experience analytics to create better digital experiences for maximum impact and greater conversions.
The Contentsquare platform analyses customer behaviour through trillions of anonymous web, mobile and app interactions, and transforms this knowledge into intelligent recommendations that aim to increase user conversion, revenue, engagement and growth. Contentsquare's growth includes a $500M Series E fundraise in May 2021, and acquisitions including Hotjar and Upstride.
The company "continues to commit to global initiatives like digital accessibility -- bolstered by its 2020 acquisition of AdaptMyWeb and subsequent launch of the Contentsquare Foundation -- and digital privacy."
