51% of Online Shoppers Use Two or More Devices for Shopping online: Criteo Report

Criteo S.A. today released its latest research ‘The State of Cross-Device Commerce – India’ on consumers’ online shopping habits. The report reveals that 51 % of online shoppers in India use two or more devices for shopping; highlighting a clear need for retailers to deepen their understanding of cross-device consumer behavior trends. The data can also be used to align their marketing strategies to maximize the ROI.

Commenting on the report, Dushyant Sapre, Commercial Director, Criteo said, “India’s online shoppers have seen a paradigm shift in last decade. The fierce competition of online players, increase of smartphones usage and internet penetration have resulted in an extended customer online journey across devices”.

He further added, “Adoption of a cross-device measurement strategy is a critical imperative for all retailers.  Marketers not only need to adopt cross-device measurement to ensure proper attribution, but also to ensure their spend is optimized for the channels delivering the highest performance. Retailers who are able to deliver a seamless and personalized customer experience across devices will stand out from the crowd.”

Research Highlights:

Cross-Device Measurement Means Smarter Spending and Higher Returns 

• About 51% shoppers use multiple devices for online shopping, clearly 1 in 2 transactions may be misappropriated without cross-device measurement
• Conversion rates using cross device are up to 2x higher than a per-device view

Mobile Continue to be a Dominant Force for Final Purchase

The customer journey remains dynamic across devices, but mobile is showing a higher transaction rate. Some key consumer buying trends from September 2016 to December 2016 are:

• Out of total cross device transactions, 24% of first device browsing begin with a smartphone
• Out of total shoppers who complete transactions on smartphones, 55% browse on multiple devices
• Cross device buyers are evenly represented across the three purchases devices, smartphones (55%), tablets (56%) and desktops (50%)

Smartphones Are the Key Device in Cross-Device Buying  

The “browse on your smartphone, buy on your desktop” trend is officially dead. Instead, consumers now use their smartphones for both searching and purchasing, making it even more important for retailers to provide a synchronized experience across desktop and mobile: 

• Out of total cross device transactions, only 14% shoppers have smartphones as first devices for browsing but final devices for purchase are desktops
• Out of total cross device transactions, about 39% shoppers have desktops as first devices for browsing but final devices for purchase are smartphones
• In India, desktop purchases peak during work hours, while mobile devices dominate during non-office hours

Marketers can no longer afford to ignore these evolving shopping behaviors. Savvy retailers offer a seamless user experience across all devices to capture purchases wherever they take place – and, with a cross-device view of the customer shopping journey, they can spend their marketing budgets more effectively.