Mobile Is Converting: Accounts For More Than 30 Percent Of US Ecommerce Transactions In Q2

More than 30 percent of US ecommerce transactions among online retailers and travel firms are now driven by mobile. That number is expected to top 33 percent by year-end, according to Criteo’s Q2 Mobile Commerce Report issued Thursday. Among the top 25 percent of US retailers, mobile’s share is already at 40 percent. The report also showed interesting stats regarding cross-device and app transactions.

Over half (54 percent) of mobile transactions in the US came from smartphones and iPhones made up 66 percent of smartphone transactions, up from 61 percent over the past two quarters.

More Consumers Are Buying Across Devices

Cross-device transactions — those in which consumers used multiple devices before making a purchase — accounted for 40 percent of all ecommerce transactions.

What’s interesting is that cross-device behaviors aren’t as different as we might expect. Among this group of retail and travel companies, the percentage of transactions that start on a smartphone and end on a tablet or desktop (33 percent) isn’t all that different those that start on desktop and end on a smartphone or tablet (29 percent).

Top Retailer Apps Account For Nearly 1/2 Of Mobile Transactions

Apps are becoming an increasingly important channel for many retailers. Retailers that have made app experiences a priority and generate over 25 percent of their ecommerce transactions come through mobile, saw their apps drive nearly 50 percent of total mobile transactions.

Retailer apps that delivery a good user experience also have higher conversion rates than both mobile browsers and desktop. This is in part due to the wide discrepancy in traffic volumes — with mobile web sites getting far more visits than both desktop and apps. In both retail and travel, average order values on mobile browsers and mobile apps are nearly identical.

Not surprising, Criteo found that mobile-optimized sites convert at more than double the rate of non-optimized sites, with conversion rates of 3.4 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively.

“The customer purchase journey has become increasingly complex as consumers have stopped using a single device to make their purchases,” said Jonathan Wolf, Chief Product Officer, Criteo. “Delivering an engaging app experience and connecting seamlessly with consumers across multiple devices are key to capturing ecommerce sales in this new world.”

For the report, Criteo analyzed 1.4 billion ecommerce transactions from more than 3,000 online retail and travel businesses globally.

About The Author

Ginny Marvin

Ginny Marvin was formerly Third Door Media’s Editor-in-Chief, running the day-to-day editorial operations across all publications and overseeing paid media coverage. Ginny Marvin writes about paid digital advertising and analytics news and trends for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.