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Consumers still wary of buying through mobile and tablet?

By Retail Technology | Friday January 5 2018

Surprising new research suggests shoppers are much less likely to go through with their purchases if they are using phones and tablets to buy goods online

This is because consumers often worry they are not seeing the full picture on a mobile app or that they could be missing out on special offers or overlooking hidden costs, according to new research. 

Concerns about privacy and security can also motivate people to put items into their shopping baskets but then quit without paying. 

Although mobile apps are rapidly becoming among the most popular ways to shop online, the phenomenon of shopping cart abandonment is much higher than for desktop-based online shopping. 

According to Market Research firm Criteo, the share of ecommerce traffic from mobile devices increased to 46% of global ecommerce traffic in Q2 2016 however, only 27% of purchases initiated on this channel were finalised and conversion rates significantly lagged behind desktop initiated purchases. 

Challenge

Researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) investigating why this is so say it represents a huge challenge for online retailers, who are investing heavily in mobile shopping, but not reaping the rewards in successful sales. 

“Our study results revealed a paradox,” said Dr Nikolaos Korfiatis, of Norwich Business School at UEA. “Mobile shopping is supposed to make the process easier, and yet concerns about making the right choice, or about whether the site is secure enough leads to an emotional  ambivalence about the transaction and that mean customers are much more likely to simply abandon their shopping carts without completing a purchase.”

The researchers studied online shopping data from 2016-2017 from consumers in Taiwan and the US. 

They found that the reasons for hesitation at the checkout stage were broadly the same in both countries. In addition, shoppers are much more likely to use mobile apps as a way of researching and organising goods, rather than as a purchasing tool, and this also contributes to checkout hesitation. 


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