Why cross-device is the metric that really matters

Internet Retailing

14th Mar 2017

A new report on consumer shopping habits reveals the need for marketers to track the cross-device purchases, as more and more shoppers use multiple devices along the path to purchase.

Over 40 per cent of online purchases in Australia involve two or more devices, according to the latest State of Cross-Device Commerce Report from marketing technology company Criteo.

But many businesses only take into account the device used to complete the purchase, causing them to misattribute more than two in five transactions.

“Adoption of a cross-device measurement strategy is a critical imperative for all retailers,” said Pressy Sankaran, Criteo’s ANZ commercial director.

“Marketers not only need to adopt cross-device measurement to ensure proper attribution, but also to ensure their spend is optimised for the channels delivering the highest performance.

“Retailers who are able to deliver a seamless and personalised customer experience across devices will stand out from the crowd.”

Failing to measure cross-device shopping leads to ad waste and limits retailers’ understanding of customers . But traditional analytics tools provide a siloed view of a customer’s multi-device journey.

Shifting to a user-centric view helps retailers accurately identify an individual consumer and capture a complete view of their shopping experience.

According to Criteo’s research, this can lead to a conversion rate that’s 1.6 times higher than a per-device view, and a customer journey that is 41 per cent longer.

Cross-device metrics also show that mobile has a higher transaction rate with a higher average order size. Already 45 per cent of all online purchases in Australia were completed on mobile, a year-on-year increase of 29 per cent.

In addition, order values on smartphones are increasing, but decreasing on tablets. And the majority of transactions are captured in mobile apps, not browsers.

Consumers now reach for their smartphones for both searching and purchasing, making it even more important for retailers to provide a synchronised experience across desktop and mobile.