Forget what you know about how shoppers like to purchase. Our latest report finds that the straightforward “browse on mobile, buy on desktop” purchasing pattern is no longer that simple.
In fact, smartphones now account for a quarter of online retail sales in the U.S., a year-over-year increase of 41%. Why? It’s easier to shop on smartphones than ever before, and many people “have psychologically gotten over the barrier that says, ‘Mobile isn’t for buying,’” our own Jaysen Gillespie, VP of Analytics, Insights, and Data Science, told Retail Dive.
Now that shoppers are more likely to buy on the most convenient device at the moment of purchase, marketers face a dilemma. Traditional attribution models typically focus on devices, giving an unclear picture of how shoppers really browse and purchase. A recent Internet Retailer article highlights how this could lead to clouded marketing decisions based on #AlternativeFacts, rather than truly understanding the shopper’s journey from start to finish.
The key to getting ahead in this new era of ecommerce will be understanding the relationships between users and devices, which we discussed with MediaPost. These insights will allow marketers to maximize spend on the right channels, as well as identify where bottlenecks lie, and optimize consumer experiences across all devices.
Once marketers conquer cross-device attribution, the next step will be to optimize the in-store and online experience using shopper data across both touchpoints. Competition for attention and market share will continue to grow, and those who understand and provide the best personalized consumer experience across devices and locations will be primed to pull ahead.
For the full findings, be sure to read our State of Cross-Device Commerce Report.
