Study finds shoppers could make BETTER shopping decisions this Black Friday when making purchases on a desktop PC and not on their phone
- Researchers found that consumers make smarter shopping decisions on a PC
- This is because information is presented to shoppers up front
- Mobile sites have to be adjusted for easier viewing and hide product details
More than 58 million Americans will search the web on Black Friday and Cyber Monday for the best deals, but making smart shopping choices depends on which device they use.
A study found the consumers tend to make better buying decision on a PC, rather than a smartphone, because product information is presented up front.
Mobile-friendly versions of the sites hide the information for easier viewing, making it harder for consumers to see exactly what they are purchasing.
Previous studies have suggested that it was the screen size that led to different buying choices, but this is the first that differentiates between screen size and information reduction.
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A study found the consumers tend to make better buying decision on a PC, rather than a smartphone, because product information is presented up front. Mobile-friendly versions of the sites hide the information for easier viewing
Lior Fink, head of the Mobile Behavior Lab and a member of the BGU Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, said: ‘The issue is not actually screen size.’
‘It is actually the fact that sites adjusted for mobile viewing reduce the information offered on the results page and require more digging around in the site for information.
More consumers have turned to their smartphone when shopping online, as 47 percent of traffic to online stores on Cyber Monday came from the handheld devices last year.
And last Black Friday was the first during which there were more than $2 billion in online U.S. sales via phones.
‘Most e-commerce providers use ‘responsive web design’ to adapt the presentation of information to the device used.’ Fink explains.
‘While mobile friendly presentation improves visibility, it reduces the amount of information and causes consumers to make decisions that are less consistent with their preferences.’
For the study, the team asked participants to choose rooms in a fictitious hotel – presenting them with 11 different options on a PC or mobile device.
When the same information was displayed on both screens at the start, participants made equally accurate decisions.
However, when mobile displays hid some information from the initial view for an easier reading experience, participants made decisions that were less accurate and less aligned with their preferences, according to the research.
Black Friday occurs on November 29th across the US.
It is a full day of shopping for many Americans looking to get the best deals on gifts for the holidays.
Last year, Black Friday resulted in $6.2 billion in revenue, more than 170 million Americans went shopping over the Black Friday weekend in 2017, and this year the average adult expects to spend about $400, according to MarketWatch.
And the just three days later, Cyber Monday kicks off, which is a marketing term for the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. It was created by retailers to encourage people to shop online.
