A new study suggests that when shoppers want to buy online, they are less likely to actually buy if they are using their phone or tablets.

The reason seems to be the fact that using a mobile app gives the idea to customers that they are missing something, like a potential good offer or some hidden cost of the transaction, research suggests. Furthermore, the topic of privacy and security also seems to impact on the decision of actually buying, with many processes stopping at the moment of payment, after putting items in the cart.

Despite the fact that mobile apps keep increasing in popularity as a tool to shop online, the percentage of people abandoning the purchase at the shopping basket stage appears much higher in the mobile apps when comparing to desktop-based online shopping.

Data collected from Criteo, a market research firm, suggests that the share of e-commerce traffic from mobile devices increased to 46% of global e-commerce traffic in Q2 2016. However, only 27% of purchases initiated on this channel saw a conclusion and conversion rates were left behind desktop initiated purchases.

A team of researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) focused on the reasons behind this gap, considering its implications for online retailers, who are constantly investing huge funds in mobile shopping, not receiving the expected rewards translated in successful sales.

“Our study results revealed a paradox,” observed Dr Nikolaos Korfiatis, of Norwich Business School at UEA. “Mobile shopping is supposed to make the process easier, and yet concerns about making the right choice, or about whether the site is secure enough leads to an ‘emotional ambivalence’  about the transaction – and that means customers are much more likely to simply abandon their shopping carts without completing a purchase.”

The researchers studied online shopping data from 2016-2017 from consumers in Taiwan and the US. Findings suggested that the reasons for hesitation at the checkout stage were very similar in both countries. In addition, shoppers are much more likely use mobile apps as a way of researching and organising goods, rather than as a purchasing tool, and this also contributes to checkout hesitation.

“People think differently when they use their mobile phones to make purchases,” explained Dr Korfiatis. “The smaller screen size and uncertainty about missing important details about the purchase make you much more ambivalent about completing the transaction than when you are looking at a big screen.”

Flora Huang, the study’s lead author, added: “This is a phenomenon that has not been well researched, yet it represents a huge opportunity for retailers. Companies spend a lot of money on tactics such as pay-per-click advertising to bring consumers into online stores – but if those consumers come in via mobile apps and then are not finalising their purchases, a lot of that money will be wasted.”

The researchers’ results, published in the Journal of Business Research, showed that consumers are much less likely to abandon their shopping baskets if they are satisfied with the choice process. App designers can help by minimising clutter to include only necessary elements on the device’s limited screen space and organising sites via effective product categorisation or filter options so consumers can find products more easily. Other strategies that might drive shoppers to finalize a purchase include the use of special offers, or coupons for a nearby store at the checkout stage.

“Retailers need to invest in technology, but they need to do it in the right way, so the investment pays off,” added Dr Korfiatis. “Customers are becoming more and more demanding and, with mobile shopping in particular, they don’t forgive failures so offering a streamlined, integrated service is really important.”

The article ‘Mobile shopping cart abandonment: the roles of conflicts, ambivalence and hesitation’, by GH Huang, N Korfiatis, CT Chang, was published in the Journal of Business Research, by Elsevier.

Written by: Pietro Paolo Frigenti

Journal Reference: Guei-Hua Huang, Nikolaos Korfiatis, Chun-Tuan Chang. Mobile shopping cart abandonment: The roles of conflicts, ambivalence, and hesitation. Journal of Business Research, 2018; 85: 165 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.12.008