Consumers Choose Retailers’ Apps Over Mobile Sites

When it comes to eCommerce, apps win over mobile sites, a new study has found.

According to research from SteelHouse, the advertising tech software firm, 25 percent of shoppers start their holiday gift buying before Halloween, and eCommerce shoppers spend more money when they use technology and use mobile apps in particular. The firm aggregated data from more than 500 retailers across millions of transactions finalized over the past 12 months. Those retailers are all SteelHouse clients, according to a Tuesday (Sept. 22) article from Internet Retailer.

The study, under the title “2015 Holiday Guide,” found, among other things, that consumers spend an overwhelming majority of their mobile time — 82 percent — on apps that they have downloaded on devices. That far outshines the 18 percent that is spent on retailers’ own mobile sites. That continues a trend that brought up 2015 mobile app use rates over 2014 significantly.

And there are advantages in this bifurcation, says SteelHouse, with in-app campaigns able to drive further downloads and inspire customer loyalty. Mobile in-app campaigns also convert at as much as five to 10 times the mobile Web rate, according to the study. And dynamic mobile ads have conversion rates that grow by 69 percent over those seen with static marketing. Video backgrounds and timers (which give an allotted period with which a purchase can be made) can spur buying, too.

[bctt tweet=”Mobile in-app campaigns also convert at as much as five to 10 times the mobile Web rate.”]

In tandem with those findings, SteelHouse recommends that retailers undertake several tactics, among them: targeting online shoppers through a display of combinations of products across categories or brands they have already viewed. Personal recommendations can be made based on shoppers’ locations.

A consumer browsing through mobile can also be prodded with a sense of urgency with tags, such as “while supplies last” and “today only.” Categories that are fluid, such as “what’s trending,” might catch the fancy of shoppers interested in a particular gift’s popularity.

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