Shoppers are taking a ‘mobile first’ approach

NOVEMBER 23, 2015 | BY DAN BERTHIAUME

Retailers who develop their e-commerce environments for mobile phone users appear to be on the right track.

According to the new Q3 Shopping Index from e-commerce platform provider Demandware Inc., tablets now account for only 11% of digital commerce traffic, down 22% from its peak of near 15% in the first quarter of 2014.
Meanwhile, mobile phones account for 41% of digital commerce traffic. Desktops still lead with 48% of traffic, but the only platform showing traffic growth is mobile phone.

Desktops have a larger share of digital commerce orders (65%), with mobile phones following at 21% and tablets at 14%. Cross-device shopping grew 14% year-over-year, mostly due to shoppers using both computer and phone. This suggests consumers are increasingly discovering and researching desktop purchases on mobile phones.

The study also indicates that digital orders are highest from 7-8 p.m. (normalized to local time zones), with tablet and phone orders highest from 8-9 p.m. and computer orders peaking between 9-10 a.m.

Monday is the day when orders peak generally, with tablets and phone orders highest on Sunday, and Saturday being the day when orders are lowest. The highest volume of orders was placed on Monday between 7-8 p.m.

Other findings include:
• Mobile phones have more “shopping interruptions” due to short-duration visits. Average time per visit in the third quarter was 9.4 minutes, down 3% from the prior year, while average time per phone visit was 8.4 minutes – down 12%.
• On an average digital order value of $123, shoppers are averaging a 13% discount – almost identical to the 12% shoppers saved in the previous quarter.