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What good data means for a small business using AI, and the ordinary housekeeping that gets your files ready and pays off with or without AI.
· 6 min readFrom the archive: originally published on the Eastpoint blog on 25 February 2016. Some details reflect that time.
More than half of UK online sales were made via a mobile device between November 2015 and January 2016. It's the first time ever that mobile sales have surpassed desktop or laptop sales, accounting for 51% of online shopping.
Figures come from IMRG, who carry out in-depth tracking of online sales and digital trends.
The breakdown of the stats are interesting as it shows a clear lead for tablets for the last quarter:
- Desktop/laptop 49%
- Tablet 33%
- Mobile phone 18%
However, this doesn't tell the whole story. While tablets are ahead of mobiles, the growth rate for mobiles is seven times that of tablets. Sales grew 95.6% in January 2016 compared to the same month last year.
Not only did sales via smartphones and laptops reach 51%, but they were also siginificantly up compared to previous quarter. From August to October 2015, mobile device sales accounted for 45% of online sales. It's also a substantial year on year increase. For the last quarter of the previous year, mobile sales were at 40%.
IMRG's chief information officer, Tina Spooner, pointed out that smartphones have long been used for research and price comparison on the go. What changed over the past year is that people now use them to check out as well, and that is behind the jump in mobile's share.
Conversion rate year-on-year comparison
Many companies have invested in mobile or responsive websites so that customers can easily navigate and checkout even on a tiny screen. So it will be reassuring to know that the conversation rate on mobile has gone up massively since last year, by 70-80%.
Richard Tremellen, a retail insight and data specialist at Capgemini, called it "a very significant milestone" for online retail. He credited the work retailers have put into the smartphone experience, along with more secure mobile platforms and a smoother payment process.
Mobile is huge for John Lewis
As part of the IMRG press release (click here to see the full original press release) they had a comment from John Lewis. They said it was there fastest growing sales channel, as many customers liked the convenience of using a mobile or tablet.
Mark Felix, the store's Director of online trade, described mobile as "the glue between our shops and online". Customers increasingly combine the two, for example checking ratings, reviews and product details on their phones while they are in a shop.
House of Fraser cited mobile development as a "priority area", with mobile sales growing 100% year-on-year.
More growth to come!
Richard Tremellen of Capgemini said that mobile advertising and geo-location marketing (more on that later) have yet to fully kick on, so expects further growth for mobile ecommerce when they do.
