Dive Brief:
- About 56% of retail-related online searches are made from a smartphone or tablet, according to new data from online metrics firm Hitwise.
- Delving deeper into the data, percentages run higher for retail searches that mention the word "coupon" (77% coming from smartphone or tablet), “sale” (73%) or “discount” (68%).
- Furthermore, location-based retail searches that mention phrases such as “near me” or “hours,” or that begin with “where to buy…” tend to occur on mobile devices.
Dive Insight:
While 56% sounds like significant mobile search activity for retail, it's worth noting that several other industries, including the food and beverage, health and automotive sectors, featured even higher mobile percentages (food and beverage scored highest with 72%.)
Other study results about specific retail-related keyword searches are encouraging, though not really all that surprising (the "near me" phrase, for example, is a favorite of anyone who lands in a new town on a business trip and finds they've forgotten something important, like pants).
One of the more interesting results: Along with searches involving the word "coupon," searches using "return policy" and "price match" also came from mobile devices 77% of the time. It may be a bit of a stretch to make this assumption, but at least some of those searchers must have been standing in stores in front of specific products, or perhaps even in checkout lines, when they conducted those searches.
Many retailers see great potential in m-commerce, but are still in the process of connecting all the dots. Right now, the key remains simply to be mobile-friendly, in terms of having sites and apps that mobile users can easily navigate, and—to whatever degree possible—making sure you have information for them online that is worth the search effort.
