Even though mainstream adoption of the mobile web as an commerce tool may be a couple years off, people are using their mobile devices to make purchasing decisions right now.
What this means is that people are using their phones, in stores, to research your products. They are doing price comparisons, reading reviews from people who have purchased from you, and they are checking out what your competition has to offer. So, while you don’t necessarily need a full blown mobile commerce solution, it’s important to understand that mobile is playing a bigger part than ever in your customers purchasing decisions.
Google mobile search volume is up 500% over the past 2 years. In fact, more than 60% of activities performed on mobile devices are search-based. If someone is looking for information on your product, this is where their journey begins. And in the mobile world, it can’t be a long journey. Quick and easy access to information is key.
Right now, 30% of people are using mobile research in addition to their traditional online research and this number is only going to grow as smart phone adoption does. Nearly 50% of consumers with smart phones are using them to check prices in stores and over 60% are using their phones to search for opinions on products when making purchasing decisions.
If people are accessing product information directly from your website, it’s important to have a mobile-friendly site that will allow people to quickly find the information they are looking for.
This is an important concept to understand, because while it’s not necessarily misguided to say “My target market isn’t purchasing through mobile devices”, it’s much more negligent to ignore mobile completely when it comes to other aspects of the purchasing process that will hopefully lead to a sale.
~mswanson, Mobile Specialist at Mindscape
