It’s All About Mobile Engagement

Mobile commerce’s share will climb to 40 percent of all e-commerce transactions worldwide in 2015, and mobile will also push cross-device sales above its current 15-to-20-percent range, according to a new report from e-commerce marketing tech vendor Criteo. And while no one is about to forget about making sales, customer engagement will be the top priority for mobile app strategies.

According to the 2015 eCommerce Industry Outlook, mobile’s share of global online sales climbed from 23 percent in the first half of 2014 to 30 percent in the second half, and will hit 40 percent by the end of 2015.

At the same time, the share of cross-device online purchases — started on one device and completed on another within 30 days — stood at between 15 and 20 percent in mid-2014, according to an analysis of transactions made by 86 million users. Simplifying that process will be a top priority for retailers and marketers in 2015, Criteo said, with 58 percent of retail executives focused on cross-device targeting. (In-store targeting was the top priority for only 32 percent.)

While brick-and-mortar retailers will be focused ever more strongly on e-commerce, the tide seems to have turned for showrooming versus webrooming. Shoppers are now far more likely to engage in webrooming — shopping online and then buying in-store — than in showrooming in every age group except those under age 25, Criteo reported, citing an October 2014 GFK Futurebuy Shopping study.

And while app installs will continue to be important, in 2015 mobile app marketers will begin to focus more on re-engaging with users who have installed the app but aren’t using it — a problem that other marketing-tech vendors have noted, too. Criteo data for travel apps shows that only 25.8 percent of app installs result in someone actually using the app.

Engagement is ranked as the primary goal of mobile app strategies by 42 percent of retailers and ad agencies, ahead of online purchases (35 percent), driving in-store sales (16 percent) and brand awareness (6 percent), the company said.