According to Statista, mobile sales in 2016 were 29.1% of all e-commerce sales, and are growing so rapidly that by 2020 mobile sales are predicted to be 48.5% of all e-commerce sales.

Dang, y’all.

That lines up with what we learned about the busiest shopping weekend of 2016, too: Black Friday saw 35.9% of all sales come from mobile devices. Cyber Monday was right behind with 35.4% of all sales being mobile. Those were 33% and 48% increases over 2015.

If you want to make sure you’re getting a piece of this ever-growing pie, we have some tips to increase your mobile sales.

Provide a safe mobile checkout experience. Give shoppers reasons to tap “checkout” on a smartphone. In a study by Wolfgang Digital, smartphones and tablets account for nearly 60 percent of all e-commerce traffic, yet more sales transactions are completed on desktops. According to Smashing Magazine, one of the biggest fears users have about buying on their mobile devices is security. Several studies say that 37% of mobile users hesitated to fill in their personal details and purchase goods online. As mobiles devices can be hacked, their privacy and information security concerns are very real. How do you handle this fear? Let your customers know, throughout the buying process, that their transaction is secure. You can do this by using words, images and SSL certificates. Smashing Magazine uses this example from 1-800-Flowers.com:

Allow Checkout as a Guest. Still making people register to buy from your site? That’s a good way to push customers away. Especially for mobile users. They don’t have the desire or time to register, let alone do that and then go through the ordering process. Check out how this major retailer reportedly saw a $300 million increase in sales by removing the “Register” button!
Give them more payment options. In addition to security issues, you need to make the payment process faster. You can offer customers a “scan your card” option and allow them to use stored data at checkout. In addition, you must offer PayPal and newer, fast-growing payment options like Amazon Payments. Keep up with the fastest, easiest mobile payment options and add them as soon as you can.
Get your website to load quickly. According to a KISSmetrics report, 73% of mobile users have experienced a website that was too slow to load. Those slow-loading sites are not good for business. The same report states that 49% of mobile users abandon a website that takes more than 10 seconds to load. Of that 49%, 3% will abandon a site if it takes more than a second to load, and 16% will abandon a site if it takes more than five seconds to load. That means that people are willing to wait less time for your website to load as they do waiting for an elevator. How can you make your website load more quickly? There are several ways, including browser caching, file compression, image optimization, and more, which you can read about in greater detail in this post from Appticles.
Reduce the Steps Required For Checkout: Remember, mobile shoppers are not patient. If the checkout process takes too much time and effort, customers will most likely get frustrated and abandon their purchases. To prevent this from happening, keep your checkout form short and simple.

Remember, by taking the time early in the year to get your mobile shopping experience in shape, you are setting your business up for success throughout the year!

Maria Fagerland

Maria is a multifaceted writer and editor who is passionate about creating content that helps businesses succeed. When she's not writing, Maria can often be found in her garden tending to her plants.