New research from professional services firm Accenture shows that, while more Canadian consumers want to shop more from their mobile devices, retailers are having a difficult time keeping up with demand.
The findings of Accenture’s 2015 Holiday Shopping Survey show that the large majority of shoppers were primed for a more mobile shopping experience. More than 70 per cent of recipients would download retailer apps if it made holiday shopping easier, even though only two per cent of consumers do most of their buying on mobile apps or mobile-friendly websites.
“The way Canadians think about shopping for the holidays is changing, and retailers must offer a more enhanced mobile browsing and shopping experience to drive sales at the busiest time of year,” said Robin Sahota, managing director of retail at Accenture, in a statement. “Consumer demand is still high: more than a third are planning to spend even more this year than last year—and they even want to shop on Christmas Day.”
Digging deeper into the statistics further underscores this overarching sentiment. Consumers avoid shopping from mobile devices primarily due to security concerns (38 per cent), but the second reason is due to frustration with retailer websites that aren’t optimized for mobile (28 per cent). And because of the general lack of mobile-friendly shopping experiences for consumers, mobile shopping in its current form can’t replace in-store shopping.
Although more than half (62 per cent) of respondents still prefer visiting brick-and-mortar stores, this too has its problems, according to the survey. Respondents cited problems with long lines, inconvenient store locations and a lack of inventory.
“This season, consumers are looking for a mobile app that is a holiday shopping companion, rather than simply a way to buy things as they would on a laptop,” Kelly Askew, managing director of retail strategy at Accenture, said in a statement. “The better the customer journey is through the seamless integration of their mobile, online and in-store experiences, the greater the opportunity to win them over and make their holiday shopping a positive time for them.”
The survey was conducted by Coleman Parkes Research on behalf of Accenture, and polled more than 1,500 consumers in Toronto, Montreal and Calgary on their shopping habits in October 2015.