The Global Commerce Review for Q4 in 2017 by Criteo has released its data which show that mobile – and particularly mobile apps – are making the most profit. The research was based on retailers in North America who had both a mobile website and an app – which in combination generated 67% of their overall sales.
Interestingly, the research showed that mobile apps convert three times more often than mobile websites.
Mobile apps account for 44% of eCommerce in North America, which compares to 33% for desktop and 23% for mobile, and has grown year-over-year by nearly 50%. So, if your company does not have a mobile app are you at a major disadvantage?
The answer to this really depends on which sector you are in, as, for example, sporting goods, fashion & luxury and health & beauty have a much higher share of mobile sales, meaning that they may well profit from an app. Other categories that do not make large amounts of their sales online are less likely to require an app.
If you do decide to build an app, it is not a guarantee that it will be a success. Many apps cost a lot of money to create, and many aren’t downloaded, or remain unopened even when downloaded.
Mobile app commerce SaaS provider, Poq, found that mobile app users who made a purchase within the first 7 weeks of owning the app have double the retention, which points towards the value of incentivising new app owners.
Do remember than an app is just part of the contemporary ecommerce scene, which is something of an omnichannel puzzle for retailers. Criteo have observed that,
“omnichannel retailers that can combine their offline and online data can apply over four times as much sales data to optimize their marketing efforts,”
And Patricio Robles of eConsultancy notes that,
“while mobile retail apps are clearly increasingly important, other channels still have the potential to play a key role. Put simply, the whole of all channels is greater than the sum of their parts.”
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