UK retailers are losing revenue because their sites are not nimble enough for smart device users. A report released by multichannel consultancy Practicology and UX testing provider WhatUsersDo highlights emerging mobile UX best practice and the big issues that are preventing UK retailers from achieving their sales potential through their mobile sites.
The findings show how retailers have progressed the design and user experience of their mobile sites in the last 18 months, and finds that consumers‘ expectations still run far ahead of what they have achieved.
The findings go some way to explain why retailers‘ sales conversion rates on smartphones still lag behind that of tablets and desktops. Those tested were Amazon UK, AO.com, Argos, B&Q, Boohoo, Boots, Debenhams, House of Fraser, Littlewoods, Paperchase, Pets At Home, River Island, Schuh, Sports Direct and Tesco Direct.
Among the conversion blockers the report identified it was found that:
”¢B&Q‘s homepage loaded with the menu permanently stuck open for several users
ӢUsers on the Boohoo, River Island and Littlewoods sites encountered problems with completing form fields at checkout
”¢Paperchase‘s site displayed promotional content that was not optimised for mobile screen sizes
ӢPages across AO.com, Pets At Home, Argos and Debenhams were not optimised for mobile devices
”¢Customers would have liked the option to load more than 16 products at a time on Boohoo‘s products listing pages
”¢No border between the search and menu buttons on Sports Direct‘s site left consumers accidentally closing the menu rather than hitting search
ӢUsers of several sites reported problems with being able to scroll past maps on the store locator results pages, as the maps themselves move when they are touched
”¢Not all users on Debenhams‘ mobile site were able to download the department store‘s app when prompted by an overlay
“The report shows that most retailers still have some way to go to maximise mobile revenue,” said Lee Duddell, Founder of WhatUsersDo. “Because user experience is a key revenue and customer satisfaction driver it seems, as we start peak Christmas trading, the likes of Boots and Paperchase are going to be missing out on significant mobile revenue that the likes of Argos and Schuh will be enjoying.”
