Intelligence Report: Mobile 2016

Most firms saw mobile coming, but failed to see the velocity. Time spent on smartphones now exceeds desktop, and accounts for more than half of time spent with all digital media. Site traffic, search volume, click-through rates, email opens and, notably, ad expenditures, all confirm that this year is (again) the year of mobile. Retail is ground zero for mobile’s impact on business with potential to drive online and offline transactions. 59% of retailers cite mobile as a top priority. As more than half of digital buyers will make at least one purchase via a smartphone by 2017 brands turn their efforts to fixing low conversion rates and frustrating user experiences, particularly during the check-out process. Addressing cumbersome check-out on mobile may be the lowest hanging fruit in a sector that is desperate to demonstrate e-commerce growth. However, many brands are behind the curve, deploying desktop practices that appear lame in an increasingly mobile age: According to L2 data, the average checkout experience requires a consumer to input anywhere from thirteen to sixteen fields. And a quarter of the brands we benchmarked don’t offer any expedited payment option, creating an inexcusable hole in their mobile consumer experience. Winners are taking aggressive, innovative approaches: Coach, Tory Burch, and Louis Vuitton have maintained a top two hundred ranking within the app store, and all three have undergone significant upgrades in that past year. In 2015, Nordstrom triggered one of the biggest swings in consumer app satisfaction with updates to provide omnichannel and social-media integration. Estee Lauder's Foundation Finder is an example of robust mobile first content: highly visual and easy to view on a smartphone, optimized for swiping, and enabling purchase on device, and acting as in-store shopping companion. This study examines the omnichannel, content, commerce and loyalty strategies of 68 brands in the fashion, beauty, sportswear and r