New e-commerce study: Mobile online shopping is on the rise

Online shopping in the Nordics has reached a high and steady level with 89% shopping online. Last year 88% were shopping online showing that the online shopping level among the Nordic population has hardly changed. However, the devices used when shopping online has!

Mobile shopping on the rise

Since last year, the use of desktop has slightly decreased while the use of tablet has slightly increased. Additionally, the use of mobile has increased, but in a more drastic way. More specifically, the use of mobile has increased by 25% from 2015 to 2016. Especially the younger age groups use their mobiles for online shopping. Among the groups from 15-25 and 36-45, 33% use their mobiles for online purchases, while this is the case for 44% in the age group between 25-36.

This change is caused by a general increase in mobile usage, but most likely also from more online shops focusing on the user experience for smartphones. Either way this sends a clear message to the e-commerce platforms that have not yet adapted their platforms for mobile devices to take this seriously. Desktop is still the preferred device when doing online purchases, but mobile has now developed into a mature platform and need to be a part of any e-commerce strategy.

Multiple devices in use

In addition to the tendency towards a more frequent use of mobile in connection with online shopping, we see that the Nordics increasingly switch between devices and use different devices in combination when shopping online.

On average, half of the online shoppers switch between devices when doing online purchases, and among the age group 15-35 this is the case for two out of three. We see that a lot of device combinations are brought into play, but the combination of mobile and desktop is the most common, with 68% of the shoppers using this combination.

This shows that consumers tend to begin their online shopping on mobile and end it on desktop. E-commerce platforms should be aware of this and focus on cross-device buying funnels, all the way from product awareness to the actual purchase.

Get further insights

Download the study below to find further insights on the online shopping habits across the Nordics. Enjoy!