Mobile Websites Deliver an 'Adequate' Shopping Experience, Survey Finds

Most mobile websites deliver an experience consistent with their brands, which enables an adequate shopping experience — even if it isn't ideal.

This is just one of the topline findings from the e-tailing group's first annual Mobile Commerce Mystery Shopping Study. For the survey, the e-tailing group put its mystery shoppers to work in the third quarter of this year, benchmarking 150 metrics on 50 mobile websites selling 13 product categories. Features and functionality were explored, and a purchase was made on each site to assess the user experience.

The survey revealed some posive findings about merchants’ mobile sites in general, meaningful retail locators, inventory-sensitive store product locators, relevant search functionality and snafu-free checkouts. However, the ease of contacting customer service was inconsistent or lacking.

M-Commerce Merchant Strengths
The follwing ls a list of strengths most m-commerce sites have, according to the study:

• enable a satisfactory shopping experience, even if it isn't ideal;
• create an overall look and feel that's consistent with the brand;
• provide a full range of categories and products, with a few exceptions;
• offer keyword search, though the quality of execution varies;
• facilitate buying decisions by providing an adequate amount of product information; and
• for those sites that have ratings and reviews, enough products are included to support the buying process.

M-Commerce Merchant Weaknesses
Here's a list of weaknesses most m-commerce sites have, according to the study:

• are either inaccessible via direct URL entry or Google search, or are inadequately promoted on their merchant e-commerce sites, via targeted emails and on in-store collateral materials;
• technical snafus are abundant;
• cross-channel integration is deficient;
• there's an inability to access customer profile information like shipping/billing addresses, payment information, and saved wish lists or shopping carts;
• aren't always optimized for the platform or browser on which they're being viewed;
• search tools and search results aren't being optimized; and
• one-click settings and sticky forms aren't in place to accommodate convenience and the time-saving demands of today's harried shoppers.