Online retailers are focussed on improving the customer experience for web shopping this year, turning browsing into sales across all devices. That’s according to the 2013 State Of Retailing Online survey from retail community Shop.org and research company Forrester Research. In fact, 51% of US retailers surveyed said their top priority for 2013 was site optimisation.
Mobile handsets and tablets are now one of the top three priorities for 43% of retailers. These businesses plan a number of enhancements in the next 12 months including new or improved mobile apps and mobile-optimised sites.
When looking back at last year, 36% of retailers surveyed said mobile sales and traffic had helped their company’s overall web conversion rate, while 29% felt a negative impact.
Vicki Cantrell, Executive Director of Shop.org, said “Retailers have responded to rapidly evolving customer use of mobile devices, dedicating much of the past 12 to 18 months to developing and testing rich mobile offerings for both customers and store associates. While direct mobile commerce is still small, mobile services are now an established and significant part of the shopping experience. Retailers this year are smartly investing to create a holistic customer experience across stores, desktop, and mobile to improve conversion rates, grow crucial repeat customer business, and even capture their share of customer demand from international markets.”