How Are We Shopping, Anyway? New Research from Monetate Examines Customer Behaviors Across Devices and Over Time in Q1 2016

PHILADELPHIA, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Monetate, the leading experience marketing platform for brands worldwide, announced today the release of its latest global Ecommerce Quarterly report (EQ1 2016). The report offers benchmarks and insights for marketers interested in creating seamless, personalized experiences for customers regardless of when they're engaging with a brand or what device they're on.

Download a free copy of the Monetate Ecommerce Quarterly report (EQ1 2016) here.

"Only 42 percent of purchases in the first quarter occurred within the first hour of a shopper's browsing session. This is incredibly important for brands to understand," said Lucinda Duncalfe, President and CEO, Monetate. "More than half of shoppers are spending a lot of time in a lot of different places on a lot of different devices before they come back and buy what originally caught their eye. It's critical then that brands ensure a customer's shopping experience picks up where it left off, no matter the time or device."

The Monetate EQ1 2016, dissects traditional eCommerce KPIs such as add-to-cart rate, bounce rate, conversions and more for the first quarter of 2016, but also explores two additional areas of importance to today's marketers – Time to Purchase and Device Type.

How long does it take to make a purchase?

Having purchase time data for customers can help inform a brand's retargeting and re-engagement strategies, as well-timed ad placements, email sends, and push notifications can increase the likelihood of customer engagement.

Monetate's data revealed 42 percent of purchases happen within the first hour of a shopper's browsing session. This means the majority of purchases are made at some other time. Following is a breakdown of the key timeframes leading up to purchase, according to data collected in Q1 2016:

• Hours 1–7. 9 percent of all purchases happen in the six hours immediately following a shopper's first visit.
• Hours 19–25. 16 percent of all purchases happen roughly one day after a shopper first visited a site.
• Hours 42–48. 5 percent of all purchases happen nearly two days after a shopper first visited a site.

What devices are consumers using to start – and finish – shopping?

To understand how customers used devices to complete purchases, we created a lookback window for all purchases made during Q1 2016. Of those customers, 90 percent began their path to purchase on a desktop. What's more, 91 percent completed their purchase on a desktop computer. But that doesn't necessarily mean everything is happening on the desktop.

Though 75 percent of all page views during the lookback occurred on a desktop, the height of the desktop's popularity comes squarely during work hours, namely 8am–4pm. Outside those hours, desktop remains strong, but mobile devices and tablets account for roughly 40–45 percent of page views during commuting hours, early mornings, and late nights.

"The big news here is how differently customers behave when using more than one device to complete a purchase. There's a good reason to pay attention to these device figures, especially the first device used in a purchase process," said Duncalfe. "That's because the first device used is, more often than not, also the device that gets used to complete the purchase. When you understand the broader customer behavior trends including purchase duration, time of day, and device type, you can optimize the shopping experience for each of your customers."

Men's and women's footwear and apparel brand Johnston & Murphy found a way to leverage different touch points to better understand how customers are shopping offline, online, and everywhere in between. By using offline customer data, such as in-store purchases, Johnston & Murphy has been able to create and deliver better customer experiences online. Specifically, cross-channel personalization has boosted business for this brand in a big way, resulting in a 19 percent improvement in add-to-cart rate and a 46 percent reduction in bounce rate.

Methodology

The EQ analyzes a random sample of more than 7 billion online shopping experiences using "same store" data across each calendar quarter. Averages throughout the EQ are calculated across the entire sample. Key performance indicators, such as average order value and conversion rate, vary by industry and market type. These averages are published only to support the analysis in each release of the EQ, and are not intended to be benchmarks for any ecommerce business.

About Monetate

Monetate is the global leader in experience marketing for brands worldwide. Monetate makes it fast and easy for marketers to test, target, merchandize, synchronize and personalize experiences across multiple devices and channels. Our brands grow their business by delivering one-of-kind experiences to every customer at each moment of interaction.

Monetate does it all through the industry's first Experience Marketing Platform, the only platform that combines marketer creativity with predictive models and machine learning to optimize each moment of interaction. Monetate drives your ROI by continually improving your ROE... your Return on Experience.

Founded in 2008, Monetate influences billions of dollars in annual revenue for world-class brands like QVC, Office Depot, Patagonia, Sur la Table, and The North Face. During Cyber Week 2015, Monetate influenced more than a third of all U.S. ecommerce sales. Monetate is the industry leader, with more clients in the IR 500 than any other company.

Media Contact:
Shelby Pritchett (Finn Partners)
[email protected]
313-486-0664

SOURCE Monetate

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