Reporting on a study of global retail leaders conducted by Ipsos for Publicis Sapient and Salesforce, Retail Dive shared a handful of notable findings, but one in particular caught our eye: “The scramble to ramp up e-commerce during the pandemic took a toll, with a vast majority (70%) of those surveyed saying it was done in ‘less-than-optimal ways.’”

While “less than-optimal” refers to many facets of e-commerce implementation in the context of the report, one particular aspect is especially important because of recent research from from Digital Commerce 360, which shows 65% of the traffic to the Top 2,000 retailers comes from mobile devices.

The importance of prioritizing mobile when designing for e-commerce is reinforced further by research from Insider Intelligence, which while tracking mobile commerce, reported sales reached $359.32 billion in 2021 (+15.2% year-over-year), and predicts it will more than double by 2025, reaching $728.28 billion and accounting for 44.2% of retail ecommerce sales in the U.S. In its analysis, Insider Intelligence notes smartphones as the driving force behind the growth, with U.S. sales on smartphones expected to increase from $128.4 billion in 2019 to $553.28 billion by 2024. Tablets follow, with an estimated $64.06 billion spent while shopping via tablet in 2022.

After years of mobile web growth, these stats aren’t particularly surprising. What is surprising: how many retailers had to rush their e-commerce implementations when faced with the pandemic and cut corners in the process.

A few of the stats collected by Hubspot offer insight into why “less-than-optimal” could be significantly detrimental to mobile e-commerce:

• 73.1% of web designers think that non-responsive design is a top reason why visitors leave a website. (GoodFirms, 2021)
• 53.8% of web designers cite “not being responsive on all devices” as a top reason for a website to be redesigned. (GoodFirms, 2021)
• 3.7% of ecommerce website visits are converted to purchases on desktop, versus 3.3% on tablets and 2.2% on phones. (Statista, 2021)

A study on the impact of improving mobile site load times from Deloitte turned up impressive results. “When site speed improved 0.1 sec we observed a positive correlation in consumers viewing more pages per session, transacting more and spending more. The data also showed a positive correlation between speed improvement and potentially the most important KPI - average order value. On average, users spent 9.2% more on mobile.”

What is “less-than-optimal” in mobile e-commerce design? Forbes surveyed members of Young Entrepreneur Council, and while all their insights are worthy of consideration, some of the most critical include:

• Not Having a Responsive Design
• No One-Click Buy
• Poor Mobile Menu Design
• Too Many Form Fields
• Too Long of a Checkout Process
• Small or Too-Close Links and Buttons

Perhaps you sense a theme: the best mobile e-commerce sites provide the best shopper experience. User experience (UX) – including Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) – plays a critical role in the effectiveness of any website. Anything on a site that creates unnecessary friction in the shopping experience increases the odds shoppers buy elsewhere. In a world where (according to the Ipsos survey reported on by Retail Dive) “a whopping 96% [of those surveyed] — believe that online sales will continue to grow, no matter what happens with the pandemic,” having a “less-than-optimal” mobile design for e-commerce could spell disaster.

Need a hand with your mobile e-commerce design? We can take you from “less-than-optimal” to 11 in short order. Contact us today.