Study: Mobile Shopping Is Kind of Annoying

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There’s a little good news for businesses worried about online shoppers ditching their brick-and-mortar stores.

A new study says consumers think shopping on their phones is a pain. Nearly 90 percent (out of 2,085 adults) interviewed for the Skava Consumer Mobile Shopping Survey say they have had a negative experience shopping by smartphone. Among those, 30 percent say they would never revisit a retailer’s mobile site that upset them.

Here are the things the survey says annoy consumers most:

  • Mobile websites are harder to navigate than the desktop versions. (51 percent)
  • Product images are too small to make a buying decision. (46 percent)
  • Mobile security is unclear. (41 percent)
  • The checkout process is a pain. (26 percent)

The study also found consumers were bothered by things retailers can’t fully control: data usage costs, page-loading speed, and hitting the wrong buttons. Some shoppers also thought products seemed more expensive on mobile websites.

Despite those concerns, most smartphone owners in the survey say they do mobile shopping anyway: 71 percent. Obviously, it’s something businesses need to get right.

“If you do it right, the customers will buy. If you don’t do it right, they will go to a competitor and you could lose market share in this new frontier,” Skava marketing director Danielle McCormick told LowCards.com.

Do you use your phone to buy things? What do you find most frustrating about the experience? Tell us on Facebook.

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