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Mobile Shoppers Hit Major Roadblocks at Etailer Sites

Didit Editorial

June 25, 2013: An article by Internet Retailer’s Bill Siwicki contains enough alarming statistics to suggest that a full-blown crisis is in the works for etailers. According to Siwicki, who cites data compiled by Harris Interactive, while almost three quarters of smartphone users have declared that they shop with their phones, almost 90 percent have reported negative experiences with certain e-commerce sites, and these experiences have been so bad as to convince almost a third of those who have experienced problems to aver that they will never visit such sites again.

Specific issues associated with unsatisfactory mobile shopping experiences include “product images that are too small” (46 percent), a “painful” checkout process (26 percent), and security concerns associated with shopping on a mobile device (41 percent).

The article suggests that many etailers have been blindsided by the sudden upsurge in mobile traffic and are consequently failing to meet mobile users’ shopping expectations. The result is that too many mobile shoppers are forced to navigate through ecommerce sites that might work very well in a desktop environment, but utterly fail on the small screen.

Obviously, there’s not much time to rectify this situation before the online shopping season begins in about 120 days. Smart etailers need to take steps immediately either by developing sites that incorporate Responsive Design (which recognizes mobile users and adjusts screen sizes accordingly) or developing separate mobile sites that work seamlessly with their desktop equivalents.

Unfortunately, data from another study suggests that only one-third of online merchants have any immediate plans to optimize their sites for mobile “in the foreseeable future.” The good news is that etailers who build mobile-friendly sites and have them ready to handle the floodgates of mobile shoppers arriving in the Fall will likely beat out their slower-responding competitors.

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