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To Combat Retail Disruption, Win the Micro-Moments in a Search-Driven World

Posted by Bob AngusMobile/Tablets, Uncategorized

mobile

In a recent Forbes article, Retail Strategy and Innovation Consultant Steve Dennis provides a very compelling reason for brick-and-mortar retailers’ recent misfortunes. While he acknowledges the rapid and transformative impact of e-commerce, he believes those who blame e-commerce for the record number of store closings are wrong. Instead, he says:

“A far more profound dynamic is at play, namely what some have termed ‘digital-first retail.’ Digital-first retail is the growing tendency of consumers’ shopping journeys to be influenced by digital channels, regardless of where the ultimate transaction takes place… [and] when it comes to how traditional retailers need to reinvent themselves, several factors related to this phenomenon need to be better understood and, most importantly, acted upon.”

One crucial factor? “It’s a search driven world,” says Dennis.

“Sometimes consumers turn to the web for rather mundane tasks: confirming store hours or looking up the address of a retailer’s location. Other times they are engaged in a more robust discovery process, seeking to find the best item, the best price, or the best overall experience.

Retailers need to position themselves to win these moments that matter – what Google calls micro-moments.”

What’s more, research shows that shoppers that use site search have the highest intent to purchase, significantly outspending those who simply browse. In fact, searchers have 2.7x greater conversion rate, 11% higher average order values, and higher revenue per visit.

To hook these must-win shoppers and clinch the micro-moments in our search-driven world, here are five top best practices:

  1. Use machine learning to power product discovery for big results.

It’s critical that retailers support shoppers conducting searches with the most relevant product results to quickly help them discover, buy, and move on. Search powered by machine learning “learns” from visitors’ behavior and activity to deliver busy shoppers the most relevant results quickly, resulting in a search function that becomes more intuitive and relevant the more it’s used.

  1. Ensure searchers can find what they’re looking for with just one word.

Research shows more and more shoppers choose to conduct site searches with just a single word. In fact, a recent study of more than 1.5 billion search queries found more than half of searchers only use one word, and over 80% of site searches used two words or less. Machine learning is driving more personalized shopping experiences where just one word should be all a shopper needs to find what he’s looking for. Combining machine learning with real-time contextual personalization can identify what that particular person means in one word and deliver what they are most likely to buy in that moment.

  1. Implement a search system containing rich autocomplete with graphics.

By combining intelligent phrase suggestions and product images into its autocomplete feature, Zachy’s Wine and Liquor increased conversion rate by 10x for shoppers using site search, and average order values by 2x for those same shoppers. Using a robust site search system with autocomplete has been recognized as one of the key steps in generating higher revenue.

This is especially true today with more people shopping from mobile devices. Shoppers on mobile devices expect a powerful autocomplete function so that they can easily go directly to the products they want with the convenience of not having to type out complete product names or descriptions on a small screen keyboard. Accommodating this will result in higher revenue per visit and greater customer retention.

  1. Arm your e-commerce site (and site search) with creative content.

Your online presence needs to be about much more than the products you sell. A website or mobile site should be an educational resource for consumers, offering unique photos, videos, tools, blog posts, reviews and more, which amplify your brand and convince shoppers to buy. 100M+ hours of “how to” content have been watched on YouTube so far this year! To make finding valuable content seamless, include it in search results — somewhere below best-selling products or in a tab above the fold.

  1. Marry site search results with paid and organic traffic sources.

If you know how people search on your site, this gives you insights into very likely search terms that people are using in search engines as well. Marry this super high-intent search behavior with your product catalog to automatically create customized landing pages that are very attractive to search engines. For retailers with tens of thousands of SKUs that could never all be manually optimized for SEO, this strategy can be very powerful, as it generates a lot of valuable traffic off of long-tail keywords. According to Jerome’s Furniture, in 2017 alone, capturing these high-converting long-tail SEO targets in an automated way has already brought in thousands of clicks and tens of thousands of dollars in sales.

To learn more about winning the search-driven micro-moments that matter, check out our e-book The Quick Guide to Better Site Search.

Bob Angus, Strategic E-commerce Consultant

Bob is a strategic e-commerce consultant and regular contributor to SLI Systems’ webinars and product marketing. He has helped merchants grow sales in his marketing roles at PayPal, Symantec, and Commission Junction. Bob has been a contributing editor at Practical Ecommerce and provides free marketing templates on his website.

Harness the Power of Mobile for Higher Holiday Sales

Posted by Amy LindseyeCommerce, Merchandising, Mobile, Mobile/Tablets, Navigation, Personalization, Recommendations, Uncategorized

Portrait of a girl shopping online.

Evidence from 2015 suggests that record-breaking numbers of holiday shoppers will make their 2016 purchases online. (Click here to Master 2015 Holiday Trends to Clinch 2016 Holiday Sales.)

Trends show a steady shift from the majority of online purchases being made from a desktop to more purchases being made on mobile devices. While computers still brought the highest average transaction size at $114 (over $89 for tablet and $70 for smartphone), for six of the days leading up to Christmas last year, traffic from smartphones surpassed that of desktops.

Savvy online retailers are preparing to harness the “runaway power of mobile” (NRF) to close more sales than ever during the holiday 2016 buying season.

Here are four strategies to optimize the mobile experience and drive higher sales this holiday and beyond.

Drive Conversions with Interactive Content

Four times as many consumers would now rather watch a video about a product than read about it (NRF). Further, one in four consumers will lose interest in a company if it doesn’t have video. This is great news for retailers who want to capitalize on the rise of mobile for holiday shoppers. Since mobile users are turned off by lengthy text, videos create a clean and attractive design that enhances the user experience. Videos and other interactive content, such as blogs and reviews, can be embedded right into the search results to increase the likelihood that busy holiday shoppers will convert.

Create a Personalized Search and Navigation Experience

Personalization is the next big thing. Customers are increasingly coming to expect a personalized online shopping experience. Nowhere is personalization more important than mobile sites. With long lists of family and friends to buy for and limited time to do it, mobile shoppers this season will want relevant products served up fast, which is a challenge for retailers, given the limited real estate of small screens.

Mobile search and navigation results will win higher conversions when they are automatically fine-tuned on critical facets personal to each shopper, such as gender or size. (See how SLI Systems is personalizing the entire shopping experience.)

Help Searchers Find Your Site

While mobile has yet to surpass desktop for actual purchases, the majority of search is now mobile. Fifty-six percent of searches that resulted in a click to a top retail site during November and December 2015 were conducted on either a smartphone or tablet (NRF).

Mobile users, even more than desktop users, are unlikely to scroll through the first couple of results. While you may not be able to compete with Amazon or other giant online retailers’ rankings for the most commonly used search terms, you can win by capturing long-tail search terms from your shoppers and using them to create dedicated landing pages that are crawlable by search engines. Then, when searchers type those long-tail terms into Google, your landing page will pop right up where mobile shoppers are likely to click.

Use Creative Omnichannel Strategies:

The retail store is not dead. It remains a mecca of holiday spending. Innovative retailers are using the capabilities of mobile to enhance the in-store experience, and vice versa.

To be successful, go beyond what shoppers expect (such as seeing in-store availability for products they see online) and delight them with the unexpected. Offer Wi-Fi during the holidays to make it easier for shoppers to make comparisons and read ratings and reviews on their smartphones. Allow mobile shoppers to set up in-store appointments for services (great for busy holiday shoppers). Or take it another leap forward to create a virtual shopping experience as described in the Forbes article: Virtual Reality Coming Soon to a Clothing Store Near You.

Harnessing the power of mobile for higher holiday sales is all about tailoring the entire shopping experience, from search to purchase, to the wishes of your shoppers. After all, happy holiday shoppers purchase more, and that will make your days merry and bright!

 

The Next Innovation in E-commerce: Enhanced Rich Auto Complete

Posted by Tanmay BholaeCommerce, Rich Auto Complete, Site Search

racThe world of e-commerce is constantly evolving. When site search was first introduced, the functionality was clumsy at best and completely frustrating at worst. Shoppers typed their entire search query before seeing if the site had what they were looking for. This involved a lot of guesswork and often led to no results or irrelevant results – even when the site had the product shoppers wanted.

In 2008, SLI Systems launched Auto Complete. As soon as users started typing their search query, a search box dropdown instantly displayed search suggestions. In 2011, we were the first site search provider to add images and product suggestions to this experience, which gave birth to SLI Rich Auto CompleteTM and allowed shoppers to find relevant products faster. Each improvement to our Auto Complete experience has increased conversions and customer engagement.

The E-commerce Evolution Continues

Today, we are excited to announce industry-leading enhancements to Rich Auto CompleteTM. Our new Rich Auto Complete experience has been designed from the ground up to speed the path to purchase and engage shoppers on any size device.

After considering a number of usability factors, best practices and client requests, we redesigned the entire experience to increase e-commerce sales, enhance product discovery and reduce the risk of returning “no results.”

RAC Blog ShotGreat for Shoppers

Our latest version of Rich Auto Complete provides better guidance to shoppers as soon as they engage with the search box. We added the ability to show search suggestions based on category, brand or department, which lets shoppers jump to the right section of results. For example, a search for jeans at a large department store might show options for jeans in Women, jeans in Men and jeans in Kids.

Our new dynamic content feature allows users to preview products of interest right within the Auto Complete box. We do this by updating products displayed when users hover over search suggestions, which gives them more choices and increases engagement.

In addition, the new Rich Auto Complete helps you capture more sales from your small-screen shoppers. We’ve created dedicated mobile and tablet designs that automatically display options correctly regardless of device size and orientation. As a result, shoppers can type less and buy more.

mobile_racPowerful for Retailers

Rich Auto Complete uses patented SLI Learning Search® technology to continuously re-rank product suggestions based on user activity. This allows you to showcase the most relevant products to your shoppers, and you can tune the results to control the order in which products appear.

SLI Systems has always customized the look and feel of our solutions to match your e-commerce site. Our new Rich Auto Complete now includes a variety of design options so that you can choose an experience that fits your brand and delights your shoppers.

Our SaaS platform allows your site to evolve alongside our e-commerce solutions. Existing Rich Auto Complete customers will enjoy these new features at no additional cost. New customers can look forward to combining the power of Learning Search® with industry-leading Rich Auto Complete to create a premium search experience

Learn more about accelerating your e-commerce by reading our Rich Auto Complete product brief.

6 Ways to Optimize the Mobile Shopping Experience

Posted by Jason MillereCommerce, Mobile, Mobile/Tablets, Site Search Tips

The stats are in and the message is clear: people are shopping on their smartphones and tablets more and more every day. Mobile commerce in the U.S. is:

Mobile shopping is outpacing desktop shopping; billions of dollars are on the line; and yet smartphone conversion rates remain at an embarrassingly low 1% or less for many retailers. Why? 80% of shoppers say they typically abandon a mobile site if they have a bad user experience (Limelight). To take advantage of this massive opportunity, online retailers need to provide shoppers with an excellent customer experience.

While there are many different ways to address all these different device formats, such as dedicated mobile or tablet sites or even a complete overhaul like Responsive design, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Whichever approach you choose, here are six tips to help you optimize your mobile customer experience:

1. Speed Matters

Nearly half of consumers expect a web page to load in less than two seconds (KISSmetrics). Remember that there is a distinct difference between what a computer calculates as page weight/load time and what a user will consider the page speed. Optimizing web pages for “visually complete” – or the user’s perception of when a page is complete – and optimizing actual page load times will create a better user experience. Tip: Use Google Page Speed Insights for overall comparison and WebPageTest to compare visually.

Image size also matters. Make sure to serve appropriately sized images and remember that even images hidden via CSS for a mobile view will still be downloaded.

  • If using a mobile site, make sure images are sized for that form factor; don’t simply reuse desktop images as they will force users to download excessively large images.
  • If the site is Responsive, make use of client side conditional loading (imager.js) or dynamic image compression (e.g. Akamai’s ION product line) to ensure users aren’t downloading unneeded bytes. Tim Kadlec found that by using a responsive image technique, sites could save up to 72.2% of image weight.

2. Reduce Customer Friction

Conversion rates on average are four to five times higher for people who use on-site search. Additionally, the type of visitors who utilize the search box are showing explicit intent and are more likely to purchase (PFSweb). Mobile users specifically are more likely to use search so make sure your search box is in an obvious place near the top of the page. Tools to ease the on-site searcher’s path-to-purchase include:

  • Rich Auto Complete ­­­­– Ease the pain of typing in search terms on small mobile devices by adding Rich Auto Complete to your search box. Through predictive analysis, this will offer suggested keywords and products as the user is typing the search term. This saves the user time and frustration and is a great way to reduce a customer friction point.
  • Spelling Suggestions – One of the difficulties that come with shopping from a mobile device is that the keyboard may be small or difficult to use, and customers may not be able to type in search words correctly. Account for misspellings or similar words by employing autocorrect or synonym rules. These rules create linkages between words to show the correct products when a word is misspelled or a different term or slang is used. 
  • Reviews & Social Media – Show ratings and reviews with your product results. Provide this social currency on site so users don’t need to leave your site to research products. Also, more shoppers are using social media to get ideas for gifts or find new items they’d like to purchase. Make sure you are catering to your mobile visitors by allowing them to share their favorite products easily among their social networks.

3.  Touch-Enabled Devices

When designing for touch-enabled devices, it’s important to remember the size of the human finger and thumb. The touch target for an index finger is 57 pixels and a thumb is 72 pixels. Making touch targets smaller than these targets can lead to user frustration and incorrect clicks. Moreover, don’t require users to pinch and zoom in order to navigate pages as these actions also lead to a negative user experience.

A very common mistake in mobile development is attempting to port desktop features directly to a mobile device. With a touch-enabled device, the user is not navigating the page with a mouse cursor so keep in mind that functions like hover don’t translate into a positive customer experience. At best, the user will attempt to click the item multiple times to activate the link; at worst, the user will be unable to click through at all. According to Thomas Fuchs, “The easiest way to deal with this is simple: don’t use hover on touch-enabled devices.”

4. Make Checkout Easy

Smart e-commerce companies create as few steps as possible at mobile checkout. When you allow visitors to checkout quickly and easily, they’re more likely to complete the purchase. To speed customers through checkout:

  • Reduce form length (fewer than 6 fields); if multiple steps, show progress
  • Top Align form labels for easy readability while typing
  • Allow guest checkout (to again, “reduce friction”)
  • PayPal/Google Wallet payment options get customers through the process quickly

5. It’s Time to Revolt Against Sliders (on Desktop and Mobile)

There have been numerous studies showing that sliders are useless. Site visitors are highly unlikely to take the time to read each slide or interact with the slider. Notre Dame performed a test with a slider on their homepage, only to find that the first image was the only image to receive interest from visitors (and only 1% of visitors). Take a serious look at your analytics and evaluate whether or not the extra download time and screen real estate is actually providing your customer value or simply satisfying everyone on the committee. Instead of sliders:

  • Show relevant sales items, or personalized offers based on season or geography
  • Show returning customers something based on their shopping affinity or past purchases
  • Avoid banner blindness and focus on what you really want the customer to do

6. Without Testing, You’re Just Guessing

Mobile customer expectations are evolving at a rapid rate so adapting to these ever-changing requirements is critical for success in an extremely competitive e-commerce environment. Performing tests, whether A/B or multivariate, can identify whether a feature can help or hurt your bottom line and is the best means of identifying which tips will best improve your conversion rates.  Looking at what your competitors do and industry best practices are only starting points; you also need to know what your audience responds well to.

To learn more about how to improve conversion rates and increase revenue from your mobile sites and apps, visit https://blog.sli-systems.com/solutions/mobile-site-search.

Is your Site Mobile & Tablet Ready for the Holidays?

Posted by Jeff HolteCommerce, Mobile/Tablets, User Experience

With the holiday shopping season upon us, eTailers everywhere are spending time to make sure site visitors have the best experience possible when browsing their sites. Positive shopping experiences result in more conversions, higher AOV (average order values) and return customers. With much of the focus still placed on desktop sites, many online retailers are missing the opportunity to concentrate on tablet and mobile optimized web sites – especially when more than 55% of all U.S. consumers have a smartphone and at least 35% own a tablet, according to Pew Research. As shopping on these devices increases in popularity, eTailers should consider investing more time and effort to improve their site usability, search and navigation to accommodate this shift.

Sales are Soaring

According to eMarketer, retail sales are expected to increase 68 percent from 2013 – 2017, with mobile commerce sales increasing a whopping 125 percent. Combine both smartphone and tablet, and mCommerce sales are expected to rise 38 percent next year. Looking at these numbers, it’s clear that mobile and tablet sites should be regularly looked at and updated along with the desktop version of your site.

Spontaneity leads to more than 80 percent of mobile purchases, and according to Brad Frost, mobile users will do anything and everything desktop users will do, considering ease of use and convenience. More than a quarter of all mobile users will abandon a transaction if a site is not optimized for mobile, with users believing that mobile transactions should be easier than online or in store transactions. Frost also reports that time spent on a mobile device is expected to overtake time spent on desktop this year, and Internet Retailer agrees that mobile devices now surpass desktops in eCommerce.

Tablets are Making Their Presence Known

Here’s some more interesting data from a recent study by Adobe:  tablet users are three times more likely to make a purchase over mobile phone users. They also spend 50 percent more than PC/MAC users, which makes this group worth targeting. Initially, smartphones had the lead over tablets in eCommerce sales, but tablets are estimated to account for more sales this year and will continue to rise at a rapid rate.

Make it Easy for your Customers

Mobile sites should be optimized in a way that puts what the user is looking for right in their hands as quickly and painlessly as possible. Mobile site design should not be too busy or crowded; the layout should be simple and products should be merchandised in a way so that they are quick and easy to find.  Similarly, checkout should be secure and require minimal effort as users do not want to spend time filling out information on such small screens. Overall, mobile should cater to your target audience. For examples and best practices, see our previous blog post on giving your mobile shoppers what they want.

Tablet approach should be different than mobile. Tablet users are known to spend more time on sites interacting and engaging with content and media. In addition to design and layout changes, online retailers should consider including product videos and any other features that users can interact with, as studies show that tablet users will spend more time playing with these features before making a purchase.

eTailers have just a small window of opportunity to compel the user to make a purchase. Because of this, site search becomes even more important.  Your site search bar should always be prominently displayed (no matter which interface the user is viewing your site from) and should contain an auto-complete feature for faster searching.

Once your site is all set up, consider letting your users do the merchandising for you with SLI’s patented advanced search technology, Learning Search for Mobile. Learning Search watches your website’s user behavior, and automatically re-ranks your products based on user click-through rates. The faster a user can find what they are looking for, the more likely they’ll be checking out with gifts for loved ones this holiday season.

Jeff Holt is a Customer Success Manager for SLI Systems. For further product insight contact him at jeff.holt@sli-systems.com.

 

5 Big Mistakes to Avoid in Mobile eCommerce

Posted by Sasha ButkovicheCommerce, Merchandising, Mobile/Tablets5 comments

Guest blog post by Sasha Butkovich from Ecommerce Outtakes

eCommerce is going mobile in a big way, and many studies show the trend in mobile shopping just keeps rising. In the past two years alone, the percentage of eCommerce sales on mobile devices rose from 2% to 8% in the U.S., according to research from comScore, Forrester and eMarketer (check out this infographic for more cool stats on this).

Many retailers are getting on the m-commerce bandwagon, and those who haven’t already are working on their mobile strategy. It’s so important to have that mobile site optimized for when shoppers arrive, ready to purchase! However, this isn’t always easy. As an eCommerce retailer, there are some big considerations to take into account before taking the mobile plunge. What follows are five common mistakes to avoid with your own mobile site.

Mistake #1: Not recognizing your users

When designing your mobile strategy, functionality is only half the battle. Sure, you want a site that works well and renders properly on a smartphone or a tablet. But the more important considerations include knowing who your customers are and how they’re going to be using this site. Determine the main profiles of your mobile customers – what they’re shopping for, where they’re accessing the mobile site from, which devices they’re using, and what they want from the site. Once you have an idea of this, you can design the best mobile eCommerce experience for your users that caters to their specific needs.

Mistake #2: Having the same design for smartphones & tablets

Whether a brand chooses to go with responsive design or a native app, one thing is very important to remember: smartphones and tablets are not the same. Using a smartphone to shop is different from using a tablet to shop, and as a retailer, you should tailor those experiences accordingly. Tablets offer the potential for more rich media experiences, so you can have a little more fun with the bells and whistles. Adding video to your tablet site is a great start, because tablets are perfect for viewing videos, and tablet users are more likely to watch them. Smartphones, on the other hand, are being used by shoppers on the go. This shopping experience should be simple and direct.

Mistake #3: Overcomplicating the shopping experience

Any eCommerce site should be simple to navigate and use, but this becomes even more important to the mobile shopping experience. The layout should be simple, the buttons should be large and fields should be easy to type into. Don’t clutter the pages with too many links or categories, like this example from the ASOS mobile shop. When people are shopping from a mobile device, they’re generally out and about, and don’t have time to waste sifting through the features of an overly complicated website. And make sure that checkout process is quick and easy, too. Don’t lose the shopper at the very last step in the process!

Mistake #4: Neglecting security

It might seem obvious, but security is hugely important in mobile eCommerce. I recently began the checkout process on a mobile site, only to realize the http in the url was broken. See the screen shot below for what happened in this example from the Sears site. When that little lock icon is broken, I’m definitely not entering any credit card information! I’m one customer this particular site lost. Don’t lose the sale because of a lack of security on your site. For a mobile shopper on the go, it’s pretty frustrating to have to abandon your cart because it’s not secure.

Mistake #5: Forgetting about the marketing emails

Hey, remember all those marketing emails you send out to get those customers to your eCommerce site? You’ll want to make sure those are optimized for mobile, too. If people can’t read your emails on their phones or tablets, they definitely won’t be visiting your site from their phones or tablets either. Don’t miss all those opportunities to generate traffic and conversions. And of course, direct them to the mobile site itself, not just the desktop version!

Know your users, know their devices, and keep things simple and secure. These are the keys to starting your mobile strategy on the right foot. Once you’ve got these things down, you’ll be on your way to success in the growing world of mobile commerce!

Master Mobile Commerce with our Upcoming Webinar

Posted by Terry CostaeCommerce, Mobile/Tablets, Webinar

Mobile commerce is experiencing explosive growth as more shoppers embrace making purchases through a mobile device.  Yet 79% of large online retailers still don’t have a mobile optimized site.

Where do you fall? Do you have a mobile site but want to improve it? Or are you looking to offer a mobile site, but not sure where to start? Don’t miss our upcoming webinar 20 Secrets to Improve the Mobile User Experience.

Whether you seek to enhance your existing site or are new to mobile, you’ll leave with a concrete understanding of the most important considerations that will keep customers on your mobile site longer, drive transactions and encourage repeat visits.

The bar for technology continues to rise, and mobile isn’t an exception. Mobile customers, new and experienced, expect a sophisticated interface that is streamlined and easy to use. With various applications, games, news and media available from mobile devices, it’s paramount that your mobile site keeps customers’ attention by being easy-to-navigate and surfacing the best products.

During this hour-long webinar, you’ll deep dive into the fundamentals of mobile user experience with SLI Systems’ founder and CEO, Dr. Shaun Ryan. He’ll show you the features that the most innovative mobile sites are using, including use of collapsible refinements, relevant site search and integrated ratings and reviews.

Start thinking about how you can make the most of this holiday shopping season by delighting your customers with a great mobile product that will keep your products within arms’ reach at all times.

Sign up now!

 

How Women are Shaping eCommerce

Posted by Kemberly GongeCommerce, Merchandising, Mobile/Tablets, Navigation, Site Search

Traditionally, men have led in purchasing in the eCommerce space, buying digital media, computers and other consumer electronics. However, as more eCommerce sites have expanded their reach to apparel, beauty and items for the kids from clothes to toys and party supplies, the number of shopping transactions by women has outpaced men in most areas.

Though women and men each make up approximately half of internet users, women today account for 58% of all online purchases, and decide 83 – 87%  of consumer purchases. According to research from comScore, women spend more money online than men in all but three categories: electronics/computing, event/movie tickets, and flower/greeting cards/gifts.

Women drive the majority of purchases on many sites such as Zappos, Gilt Group, Etsy and Groupon. Additionally, eCommerce companies that focus on a female audience, such as e.l.f. Cosmetics, Boden, Stella & Dot and One Kings Lane are growing quickly.

The rise can be partially attributed the wider availability of products and shopping experiences that women want. Fashion has seen the biggest growth in the past year and is now one of the largest product segments. Other areas that have seen tremendous growth are health & beauty and food, DIY & household products.

And women in the United Kingdom are taking their eCommerce purchasing a step further and leading the market in mobile purchases. Research conducted at OgilvyAction into the mobile behavior of 1,000 UK consumers found that 56% of women own a smartphone, as opposed to 51% of men. It also showed that one in six women had made a purchase on their mobile phone, compared to one in nine men.

Though smartphone ownership among US women has now exceeded that of men, they still fall behind men in mobile purchasing. But as the rise of user-friendly mobile commerce sites continue, it will be interesting to observe the new trends that emerge.

And just as the types of products bought by men and women vary, shopping patterns between genders also vary. Men tend to prefer shorter shopping experiences by searching for what they are looking for and buying the product. Men are more likely to intensely research the product page and read all product details, while women quickly scan the product page and continue browsing other products. Women also tend to search by brand instead of searching by product.

Which prompts the question – are you doing all you can to tap this group of consumers?

To counter these differences in behaviors, it’s wise to ensure that your site is able to be searched and navigated in a variety of different ways. An effective search box that gives extremely relevant results can lead customers right to the product they are looking for. On the flip side, having a navigation that is full of useful refinements allows for a browsing experience that easily narrows down the best products but still allows for a visual and highly-engaging shopping experience. By providing multiple avenues to access products, you’ll create a shopping experience that will appeal to women and men alike.