Today, shopping has become much easier thanks to the spread of dedicated sites and apps. Increasing numbers of consumers now recognize the convenience of mobile e-commerce. Smartphones have enabled us to do all our shopping while on the go, or from the comfort of our homes. The same applies to deal-hunting.
Black Friday of 2019 has revealed the changing habits of American customers. No longer is it tempting to stand in line for hours and bust doors to snatch a coveted item. Why go through such hassle, if you can simply make your order online? Not surprisingly, the share of offline Friday shoppers has dropped to just over 30% (compared with roughly 50% three years ago).
Goods and Deals
As rabato.com/us/ reports, all hot deals may now be accessed from a single website. In addition to the apps developed by stores, coupon sites have also gone digital. Rabato, for example, delivers weekly ads from a broad range of categories neatly packed into a regular newsletter.
In terms of statistics, it is estimated that smartphone-assisted purchases accounted for 44% of digital transactions in Europe by the end of 2018, and the figure is only growing. The trend is being observed across the world, especially in the Northern part of the EU and in Asia, where it has risen beyond 50% on average.
In the first region, the ultimate winner is Sweden. In this country, the share of mobile purchases has reached 60%. The top five includes other EU countries only: Norway, The UK, Denmark and Germany (50-57%).
In North America, the figures are just a bit more modest. It was estimated that mobile accounts for 39% of all transactions. Latin America is close, with 38%. However, the leading region is the Asia Pacific.
This information can be found in a recent report published by Criteo. The study looked at browsing and purchasing data from over five thousand stores in over eighty countries around the world. The general takeaway is that consumers are finding mobile tools increasingly preferable for shopping. This particularly applies to retailers with no brick-and-mortar stores.
Rise of Apps
Overall, consumers opt for shopping apps, as these are the most convenient given the current lifestyle. These are locomotives of digital sales. A 30% year-on-year boost has been observed in the segment of purchases via apps.
An important measure of an app’s success is the conversion rate. This indicator basically shows how many of the users have made a purchase through it. In the USA, it is especially impressive — more than three times bigger than that for the mobile web. Generally, apps demonstrate better conversion than sites.
Conclusion
All these changes point to important shifts in consumer behavior patterns that have been taking place over the past decades. Humanity has come a long way. From old-school newspaper clippings and door busting, we have transitioned to a digitized and portable retail industry which is taking over the world.
