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Tablets & Mobilegeddon: The Shift to Mobile Shopping

Hoodies, Tablets & Mobilegeddon: The Shift to Mobile Shopping

Mobile Shopping Habits Across Europe Revealed in Spreadshirt’s Trends Review

Spreadshirt’s Mobile Shopping Trends Review reveals that the British are more likely than the French or Germans to shop via their mobile on the site, price threshold is not a barrier as hoodies sales increase and avoiding mobilegeddon by optimising a site can shift shoppers to the mobile platform.

The print-on-demand, e-commerce platform for creating, sharing and selling ideas you can wear sees its European and UK markets buying hoodies, premium t-shirts and cotton bags via their mobile devices, following extensive mobile-optimisation of the site.

Philip Rooke, CEO, explains the findings from the Spreadshirt Trends Review: “These results are not necessarily what we expected. A smaller screen is supposed to mean a smaller basket size, but mobile shoppers are not shying away from more expensive items like hoodies. Perhaps mobile shoppers have just been colder this winter! The British have also taken to mobile commerce like ducks to water, especially since we optimised our site”.

He continues, “Despite all the recent warnings about so-called ‘mobilegeddon’, we think these positive results have come from mobile-optimisation. It may be annoying for online retailers to have Google change the rules, but our Review shows it’s time to embrace mobile-optimisation. Mobile-readiness is just one of the many things a modern customer demands. We’re seeing this shift to mobile happen globally, with very rapid rises in both mobile browsing and purchasing. In some cases over 50% of our traffic is now mobile and we’ve seen a tripling of mobile sales since optimisation”.

In theory, people will spend less if they can’t see the product very well. Spreadshirt’s data shows something else; as a proportion of the total mobile sales, more hoodies are bought on mobile devices than as a proportion of PC sales. In addition, the British are leading mobile sales at Spreadshirt: 30% of sales from the UK now come from a mobile device and of that, 61% are shopping via their mobile phones. This compares with 25% in Germany and 17% in France.

Spreadshirt’s Mobile Shopping Trends Review monitored activity during the period October 2014 to February 2015:

The shift to mobile

• UK buyers were more likely to buy via a mobile (30% of sales from the UK) that their German (25%) or French (17%) counterparts.

• Spreadshirt’s mobile conversion rate has tripled since the introduction of a new check-out and the smartphone-optimised marketplace in 2014.

• The British still spend nearly twice as long on the site via a PC compared to a mobile device. Maybe they are speedy shoppers on the mobile? The French stay the longest if using a smart phone, slightly longer than the Germans and nearly twice as long as the British.

  Hoodies bigger share of mobile shopping pie

• More hoodies are bought on a PC than mobile devices, but as a share of the mobile sales, hoodies have a bigger slice of the pie. They are the third most common purchase on mobiles across Europe, after premium and standard t-shirts. So mobile shopping does not necessarily mean a lower basket size.

• Mugs and cotton tote bags were more likely to be bought via a mobile and aprons on a desktop. Oddly, while cotton bags represent nearly 1% of all mobile orders in Europe, the North Americans did not order a single one via mobile devices in recent months.

• Spreadshirt’s top seller remains the men´s t-shirt, but the brand selection varies. Buyers via mobiles in Europe and the UK order from the premium collection, whereas PC buyers prefer the standard t-shirt. In North America, however the standard version is ordered, regardless of how it’s ordered.

When is mobile shopping happening? Early in the week & evenings in the UK

• The beginning of the week is busier with buyers than the end across Europe, with the British more likely to shop on a Tuesday.
• Four out of 10 visitors access the site via their mobile at the weekend (compared to a third during the week).
• The British & Germans do their shopping via tablet in the evening; 20% of all tablet orders in the UK are made between 6pm and midnight.
• However, in Germany, 50% of visitors to the site in the early morning (between 7 & 8 o’clock) are from phones. And 38% between midnight and 6.00am.

About Spreadshirt

Spreadshirt is one of the world’s leading e-commerce platforms for on-demand printing of clothing and accessories. Its customers (individuals, businesses, organisations and teams) can create, buy and sell their ideas on over 150 different products.

The business model includes four areas where sellers and customers can offer or buy a product: Create Your Own, Spreadshirt’s and other online market places, white-label online stores and Spreadshirt’s fulfilment technology. Spreadshirt’s more than 70,000 active sellers include companies such as New Castle Brown Ale, Mr. Bean or Doctors without Borders.

Spreadshirt is active in 19 markets and 12 languages and operates five production sites in Germany, Poland, the USA and Brazil. The company was founded in 2002 and, in 2014, achieved revenue of around 72 million Euros, printed about 3.3 million articles and sent them to more than 150 countries.

Yink, a large volume provider for individual textile and promotional printing is also part of the Spreadshirt family.

www.spreadshirt.co.uk Philip Rooke tweets from @PhilipRooke

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Philip Rooke .