For retailers, the advantage of mobile devices is that they enable anywhere, anytime shopping. The moment that customers are interested in an item, they can use their smartphone right there to purchase the product without possibly forgetting about it by the time they reach a store or their home. Because of this, merchants should ensure that their ecommerce software is ready to handle customers who want to shop with their mobile devices. 

Although retailers cannot control where potential customers will go, they can influence when an item will be advertised to consumers. According to a recent Yesmail Interactive survey, 18 percent of all email-generated revenue originates on mobile devices, with most of those sales occurring on tablets. 

However, mobile retail sales still create $2 less in average revenue per purchase than would have been earned by consumers clicking on the same email on their desktop. This is an improvement from the average across all industries, though, where the difference amounts to $10 – and with email-based spending often being time sensitive, being able to grab shoppers' attention right away is better than expecting to catch them at a later period. 

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Friday, November 22nd, 2013 at 8:40 am .