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Amol Ghemud Published: August 14, 2018
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The concept of “mobile-first” has gained significant attention recently, with notable instances in the eCommerce industry. In 2015, Myntra initially positioned itself as a mobile-only platform (later reverting to desktop due to consumer backlash). Around the same time, Flipkart declared a mobile-first strategy but eventually opted for a more balanced approach.
It’s important to clarify that “mobile-first” extends beyond focusing on mobile app development. It involves designing UI/UX and branding, primarily focusing on the mobile device’s small form factor. This approach challenges the traditional path of starting with a website and extending to a mobile app. Instead, it prioritizes mobile as the primary platform and considers desktop a secondary option.สล็อต pgสล็อตjoker123
Now that we’ve clarified the essence of “mobile-first,” let’s delve into why some may view it as a less favorable idea, especially regarding mobile users vs. desktop users, the differences in mobile search vs. desktop search, and the dynamics of mobile vs. desktop eCommerce.สล็อต PG
Managing Mobile – The Hidden Costs
Managing and promoting a mobile app can be more challenging and costly than it initially appears for startups. Before diving into the process, you must make crucial decisions, such as choosing between Hybrid and Native app development. It’s important to note that building an entire app ecosystem can incur significantly higher costs compared to creating a multi-platform web-based portal.
Once your mobile apps are launched, you’ll encounter further challenges. These include the often substantial marketing expenses associated with user acquisition and the complexities of user retention. Additionally, there’s the ongoing task of ensuring that most of your users consistently use your product’s latest version. This can become a particularly daunting endeavour for startups in terms of expenses and the required effort.
In the realm of mobile vs. desktop users, these challenges underscore the unique dynamics of managing mobile applications compared to web-based platforms. สล็อต
Making Sense – What the heck is going on here?
When you take into account the conversion rates, it’s clear that the desktop holds a dominant position. Even tablets perform reasonably well in terms of conversion rates, but their traffic volume could be higher, making them less significant in the overall picture.
It’s crucial to emphasize that this article is not intended to be anti-mobile. Recent research indicates a dynamic and evolving cross-device user journey in eCommerce. Many shoppers now seamlessly switch between multiple devices to complete their purchase, highlighting the complex interplay between mobile users vs. desktop users, the nuances of desktop vs. mobile interactions, and the evolving landscape of mobile vs. desktop eCommerce.
The eCommerce landscape is evolving rapidly, and understanding the interactions between different devices and platforms is essential for businesses aiming to thrive in this dynamic environment.หนังออนไลน์ 24
39% shoppers use smartphones as final devices for purchase
This implies that although their shopping journey may have started on a desktop site, the mobile platform serves as the ultimate point of purchase. In light of this trend, it’s increasingly essential for eCommerce portals to embrace cross-device customer journeys.
Suppose you’re in the process of launching a new e-commerce portal and are contemplating how Inbound Marketing can enhance your marketing efforts. In that case, it’s crucial to consider the interplay between mobile and desktop users and the dynamics of desktop vs. mobile interactions. While mobile should undoubtedly be a part of your long-term strategy, for an initial lean approach to Minimum Viable Product (MVP), it is more advantageous to focus on desktop users, where you can achieve better Return on Investment (ROI).
The advice is to “Go Mobile” but not necessarily adopt a “mobile-only/first” approach immediately. Balancing mobile and desktop strategies is crucial in catering to your target audience’s diverse preferences and behaviours in the mobile vs. desktop eCommerce landscape.สล็อต88ufa191
FAQs
1. What are the main differences in behavior and expectations between mobile users and desktop users? ทดลองเล่นสล็อต pgทดลองเล่นสล็อต
Mobile Users vs. Desktop Users:
Behavior: Mobile users tend to exhibit shorter attention spans and prefer quick, on-the-go interactions, while desktop users often engage in more extended sessions with focused tasks.
Expectations: Mobile users expect responsive design, touch-friendly interfaces, and fast loading times, whereas desktop users may tolerate more complex layouts and prioritize comprehensive features.
Mobile Search: Mobile search queries often include location-based intent, voice search, and questions, reflecting a need for immediate, local, or context-specific information.
Desktop Search: Desktop search may involve broader research, multi-tab browsing, and complex queries, often for tasks that require in-depth exploration or comparison.
Mobile vs. Desktop E-commerce:
Mobile E-commerce: Mobile users typically seek streamlined, mobile-optimized shopping experiences with easy navigation, simplified checkout processes, and mobile payment options.
Desktop E-commerce: Desktop users might engage in more extensive product research, utilize larger screens for detailed product views, and prefer traditional payment methods or comprehensive features.
2. How does responsive design contribute to providing a seamless experience for both mobile and desktop users? ราคาบอลพรุ่งนี้
By addressing the unique demands and preferences of different user groups, responsive design plays a critical role in ensuring a seamless experience for both mobile and desktop users:
Mobile Users vs. Desktop Users:
According to the user’s device, responsive design modifies the layout and content presentation to enhance the user experience for desktop and mobile users.
Responsive design accommodates mobile users’ on-the-go behavior by ensuring that the material is easily viewable, touch-friendly, and fits different screen sizes.
To make the most of the bigger screen real estate available to desktop users, responsive design maintains an interface that is aesthetically pleasing and easy to use.
Desktop vs. Mobile:
Responsive design is used to make navigation menus, buttons, and other interface elements easy for touchscreen input on mobile devices and precise mouse input on desktops.
While responsive design stacks and reorganizes content for a more vertical scroll experience on mobile devices, it ensures that content is well-structured on desktops to make it easier for users to assimilate information.
Mobile Search vs. Desktop Search:
Responsive design improves search functionality by ensuring that search bars and filters are visible and work on all devices.
Responsive design for mobile search concentrates on optimizing the display of search results, making sure they are quickly scanned and engaging.
Refinement of user queries is improved for desktop search because of responsive design’s abundant area for sophisticated search capabilities like filters and sorting choices.
Mobile vs. Desktop E-commerce:
With streamlined product listings, user-friendly shopping carts, and mobile payment choices, responsive design simplifies the purchasing process for mobile e-commerce.
The responsive design preserves the integrity of product displays in desktop e-commerce, enabling high-quality photos, thorough product descriptions, and more complex checkout procedures.
3. What factors should businesses consider when deciding which features to prioritize for mobile users versus desktop users? ยักษ์888
When deciding which features to prioritize for mobile users versus desktop users, businesses should consider several key factors:
User Behavior (Mobile Users vs. Desktop Users)
Device Capabilities (Desktop vs. Mobile)
Context of Use (Mobile vs. Desktop)
Mobile Search vs. Desktop Search
Mobile vs. Desktop E-commerce
Screen Real Estate (Desktop vs. Mobile)
Performance and Speed (Mobile vs. Desktop)
Cross-Platform Consistency
User Feedback and Testing
Business Goals and ROI
Technological Feasibility
Competitor Analysis
4. Are there specific industries or types of content that tend to be more popular among mobile users as compared to desktop users?
Specific industries and types of content tend to be more popular among mobile users than desktop users due to the differences in user behavior, context, and preferences. Here are some examples:slot auto walletผลบอลสด7m888 ราคา
Social Media and Messaging (Mobile Users vs. Desktop Users)
Local Services and Maps (Mobile vs. Desktop)
Mobile Search (Mobile Search vs. Desktop Search)
Entertainment and Streaming (Mobile vs. Desktop)
News and Updates (Mobile Users vs. Desktop Users)
Mobile Gaming (Mobile vs. Desktop)
Mobile Shopping and E-commerce (Mobile vs. Desktop E-commerce)
Health and Fitness (Mobile vs. Desktop)
Travel and Booking (Mobile Users vs. Desktop Users)
Food Delivery and Restaurant Reservations (Mobile vs. Desktop)
5. What are some common challenges faced by designers and developers when optimizing websites or apps for both mobile and desktop users?หนังออนไลน์ 24slot auto walletไฮดร้า888
Designers and developers face several common challenges when optimizing websites or apps for both mobile and desktop users:
Responsive Design (Mobile Users vs. Desktop Users)
User Interface (Desktop vs. Mobile)
Content Prioritization (Mobile Search vs. Desktop Search)
Performance Optimization (Mobile vs. Desktop)
User Experience Consistency (Mobile vs. Desktop E-commerce)
Navigation Challenges (Mobile Users vs. Desktop Users)
Content Adaptation (Desktop vs. Mobile)
Touch vs. Mouse Interactions (Desktop vs. Mobile)
Search Functionality (Mobile Search vs. Desktop Search)
Cross-Browser Compatibility (Mobile vs. Desktop)
Data Usage and Loading (Mobile Users vs. Desktop Users)
Testing and QA (Mobile vs. Desktop E-commerce)
Performance Trade-Offs (Mobile vs. Desktop)
Accessibility (Mobile Search vs. Desktop Search)
To effectively overcome these obstacles, designers, developers, and usability testers must work together to produce a smooth and user-friendly experience across all platforms. This demands a thorough understanding of mobile and desktop users’ unique needs and behaviors.สล็อต pg
A true mobile-first philosophy means designing the entire user interface, user experience, and branding with the mobile device's small form factor as the primary constraint. This is fundamentally different from simply having a mobile app; it dictates that the desktop experience is a secondary adaptation, not the starting point. For companies like Flipkart, this created a challenge because it can alienate the large segment of users who prefer the depth and convenience of desktop browsing for research and purchase completion, impacting overall conversion rates.
Adopting this approach requires a deep commitment to simplicity and prioritization, as limited screen space forces you to focus only on core functionalities. However, the drawbacks can be substantial for an eCommerce portal:
Reduced Feature Discovery: Complex features or extensive product catalogs are harder to navigate on mobile, potentially hiding value from users.
Conversion Rate Disparity: Despite high traffic, mobile conversion rates consistently lag behind desktop, making a mobile-only focus a high-risk bet on changing user behavior.
User Alienation: As Myntra discovered, forcing all users into a single, mobile-only channel can cause significant backlash from those who value the desktop experience.
This is why a balanced, cross-device strategy is often more resilient. Understanding the complete user journey across all platforms is key to building a sustainable model, a topic explored further in the complete article.
The hidden costs of managing a mobile app extend far beyond the initial development, posing a serious financial challenge for startups. These ongoing expenses include aggressive marketing campaigns for user acquisition, complex strategies for user retention, and the continuous effort to push updates and ensure users are on the latest version. This app ecosystem is substantially more expensive to maintain than a multi-platform web-based portal, which offers a more direct path to reaching users without an installation barrier.
Your choice between a Hybrid or Native app is just the beginning; the real financial test comes post-launch. Consider these persistent costs highlighted by sources like Localytics:
User Acquisition Marketing: The cost per install can be high, requiring a significant and sustained marketing budget just to get users to download the app.
Retention and Re-engagement: Keeping users active is a separate, costly endeavor involving push notifications, email campaigns, and in-app promotions.
Version Control: Ensuring the majority of your user base adopts new updates is a technical and marketing hurdle that web portals do not face.
These factors make a web-based MVP a much leaner and more cost-effective starting point. To see a detailed breakdown of these costs versus potential ROI, the full analysis offers deeper insights.
A desktop-focused MVP offers a more direct and reliable path to achieving a strong initial Return on Investment (ROI) compared to a mobile-first strategy. The primary reason is that desktop platforms consistently demonstrate higher conversion rates, meaning each marketing dollar spent to attract a visitor is more likely to result in a sale. While mobile drives significant traffic, its lower conversion performance makes it a less efficient channel for a startup needing to prove its business model quickly and with limited capital.
The comparison reveals a clear advantage for prioritizing the web, even if mobile remains a long-term goal. A lean initial approach should focus on the platform with the least friction and highest performance. A desktop-first strategy offers:
Higher Conversion Rates: Users are generally more comfortable completing complex checkouts and making larger purchases on a desktop.
Lower Upfront Costs: Building a responsive website is typically less expensive and faster than developing, launching, and marketing separate native apps.
Simpler Analytics: Tracking user behavior and marketing attribution is more straightforward on the web, allowing for quicker optimization of your marketing funnel.
While the fact that 39% of shoppers use smartphones as the final purchase device is compelling, it is a part of a larger cross-device journey. The complete article explains how to build a phased strategy that respects this journey.
The decision by Myntra to revert its mobile-only strategy is a powerful case study on the necessity of listening to user preferences over chasing trends. It teaches new businesses that while mobile is a critical channel, the desktop remains indispensable for a large portion of the consumer base for discovery, detailed comparison, and final purchase. Forcing users onto a single platform can alienate valuable customers and directly harm revenue, proving that a flexible, multi-platform presence is far more resilient.
This reversal highlights several truths that an eCommerce business should consider:
The Power of Choice: Customers expect to interact with your brand on their preferred device. Removing a popular option like desktop can be perceived as a downgrade in service.
Desktop's Role in Conversion: Even with high mobile traffic, the desktop's superior conversion rates make it a vital component for profitability.
The Cross-Device Reality: The customer journey is not linear. A user might browse on mobile during their commute but prefer to complete the purchase on a desktop at home, a path that a mobile-only approach severs.
The experience of both Myntra and Flipkart reinforces the idea that an initial focus on a strong desktop portal is a safer, more profitable bet. Discover how to apply these lessons to your own launch strategy by reading the full piece.
The statistic that 39% of shoppers use smartphones as the final purchase device powerfully illustrates that the customer journey is not confined to a single platform. It proves that a significant number of sales that conclude on mobile may have started with research, comparison, or discovery on a desktop or tablet. Focusing only on the final conversion point provides an incomplete picture and can lead to flawed marketing attribution and strategic investment decisions.
This data underscores the importance of an integrated cross-device strategy that supports users at every stage of their path to purchase. For your business, this means:
Mapping the Full Journey: Understand that a user might see an ad on social media via their phone, research the product on their work desktop, and then make the final click-to-buy on their phone later.
Consistent User Experience: Ensure that your branding, messaging, and user interface are coherent across all devices to create a smooth transition for the customer.
Holistic Attribution: Your analytics must be able to credit touchpoints across devices to accurately measure the ROI of different marketing channels.
Ignoring the pre-purchase stages on other devices means you misunderstand what truly drives sales. The full article provides more context on how to track and optimize for these complex user journeys.
The most common mistake is assuming that high mobile traffic necessitates an immediate, full-featured native app, leading startups to neglect their mobile web experience. This approach ignores the high costs of app development and user acquisition while failing to address the core reasons for low mobile conversion, such as poor UX or a complicated checkout process. Stronger companies avoid this by first perfecting their responsive mobile website, which serves all users without requiring a download.
The solution is to optimize the mobile web experience first before even considering a native app. This provides the highest ROI by improving conversions for the traffic you already have. Here is how to correct the course:
Focus on a Responsive Website: Ensure your existing website is perfectly optimized for mobile browsers, with fast load times, easy navigation, and a streamlined checkout.
Analyze Mobile User Behavior: Use analytics to understand where mobile users drop off. The issue may be a specific page or form field, not the lack of an app.
Prioritize a Web-Based MVP: Launch with a robust desktop and mobile web presence. A native app should be a long-term strategic goal, driven by data showing a clear need for app-specific features like push notifications.
This web-first method allows you to capture more value from existing mobile visitors efficiently. To learn how to structure this optimization process, explore the complete guide.
The ideal step-by-step strategy for a lean eCommerce MVP is to prioritize the platform with the highest conversion rates first—the desktop—while ensuring a solid mobile web presence from day one. This approach maximizes initial ROI and gathers crucial user data before committing significant resources to a potentially costly native app. The plan is to win on the web first, then expand to an app when data justifies the investment.
A structured plan for achieving this balance would look like this:
Step 1: Launch a Desktop-First, Responsive Website. Design the core experience for desktop users where conversions are strongest, but ensure the site is fully responsive and performs flawlessly on mobile browsers.
Step 2: Drive and Analyze Initial Traffic. Focus initial marketing efforts on acquiring desktop users to generate revenue and validate the business model quickly. Simultaneously, analyze mobile web traffic to understand user behavior.
Step 3: Optimize the Mobile Web Experience. Use data from Step 2 to continuously improve the mobile website's usability and checkout process, boosting conversions without building an app.
Step 4: Evaluate the Need for a Native App. Only after exhausting optimization on the mobile web and identifying a clear business case (e.g., need for offline access, push notifications for retention) should you begin app development.
This phased approach mitigates risk and ensures every investment is data-driven. For a deeper look into the metrics that signal it is time to build an app, read the full analysis.
Established retailers must shift their mindset from platform-centric optimization to a holistic, customer-centric journey optimization. This means breaking down the silos between their desktop, mobile web, and app teams to create a unified experience where a user can transition between devices without any friction. The strategy should focus on continuity, personalization, and leveraging the unique strengths of each platform within a larger journey.
Adapting to this multi-device reality requires strategic adjustments over time:
Unified Customer Profiles: Invest in technology that allows you to recognize a customer whether they are logged in on their laptop or browsing on their phone, enabling features like a persistent shopping cart across devices.
Contextual Engagement: Use device-specific features intelligently. For example, use mobile for location-based offers or quick purchases, and desktop for detailed product research and account management.
Flexible Attribution Models: Move away from last-click attribution to models that properly credit touchpoints across the entire cross-device journey, from initial ad view to final purchase.
The future belongs to brands that can seamlessly serve customers wherever they are. The full article explores emerging technologies that support this next generation of eCommerce strategy.
The performance gap between high mobile traffic and lower mobile conversion is explained by fundamental differences in user intent and context. Mobile sessions are often characterized by on-the-go browsing, research, and discovery, where users are easily distracted and less inclined to navigate complex checkout forms. In contrast, desktop sessions typically represent a more dedicated, high-intent shopping experience, where users are prepared to compare details and enter payment information.
Understanding these behavioral nuances is key to optimizing both platforms. Mobile is for discovery, desktop is for decision. Key factors contributing to the gap include:
Screen Size and Input: It is physically easier and feels more secure to enter detailed personal and payment information using a full-size keyboard and large screen.
Session Context: Mobile browsing often occurs in short bursts during commutes or breaks, while desktop use happens in a more stable environment conducive to concentration.
Perceived Security: Some users still perceive desktop transactions as more secure than mobile ones, especially for high-value items.
While 39% of shoppers do complete purchases on mobile, it is often for simpler, lower-cost items. To learn how to close this conversion gap, the complete article offers specific UX tips.
The strategic shift by major players like Flipkart indicates a maturation of the Indian eCommerce market where businesses recognize that a one-size-fits-all platform strategy is ineffective. It signals that while the market has a massive mobile user base, consumers have become sophisticated enough to demand the flexibility to shop on their preferred platform. They expect a high-quality experience on desktop for deep research just as much as they do on a mobile app for convenience.
This evolution away from a rigid mobile-first ideology reflects a deeper understanding of the local consumer. It shows that market reality has triumphed over trendy buzzwords. This strategic pivot points to several market dynamics:
Diverse User Segments: The market is not monolithic; it contains power users who prefer desktop, mobile-only users in Tier-2/3 cities, and a large group that switches between devices.
Value of High-Ticket Sales: For expensive items, the trust and ease-of-use associated with desktop platforms remain crucial for closing sales.
Competitive Pressure: As the market gets more crowded, providing a superior, flexible user experience across all platforms becomes a key differentiator.
The journey of Myntra and Flipkart offers a roadmap for new entrants. The full article discusses how these lessons apply globally.
The primary disconnect is a failure to align the mobile user experience with mobile user intent. Businesses see high traffic and mistakenly assume users want a deep, app-like experience, when in reality, most mobile visitors are looking for quick information, simple navigation, and a frictionless path to a specific goal. The low conversion rates are often a direct result of a clunky, slow, or overly complex mobile website that creates friction.
The most effective solution is to radically simplify and speed up your mobile web experience. This is far cheaper than building a native app and directly addresses the core problem. Key steps to bridge this gap include:
Optimize for Speed: Use tools to analyze and improve your mobile page load times, as delays are a primary cause of abandonment.
Streamline Navigation: Implement a simple menu, prominent search bar, and clear calls-to-action.
Simplify Forms: Reduce the number of fields in your checkout and contact forms, and enable auto-fill options where possible.
Improve Readability: Use large fonts, high-contrast colors, and ample white space to make content easy to consume on a small screen.
By focusing on removing friction from the existing mobile web journey, you can significantly lift conversions. For a checklist of common friction points, explore the complete analysis.
To accurately measure ROI in a cross-device world, businesses must anticipate a shift away from simplistic, last-click attribution models toward more sophisticated, data-driven approaches. The future of analytics will focus on creating a single, unified view of the customer, tracking their interactions across all touchpoints to understand how different channels contribute to the final sale. This means investing in platforms that can connect anonymous browsing on a desktop with logged-in activity on a mobile app.
The evolution of analytics will require a focus on holistic journey measurement rather than channel-specific performance. Key shifts to anticipate include:
Probabilistic and Deterministic Matching: Using signals like IP address, browser type, and login data to connect a single user's activity across multiple devices.
Data-Driven Attribution Models: Employing machine learning to assign fractional credit to each touchpoint in the customer journey, providing a more accurate ROI picture.
Customer Data Platforms (CDPs): Increased adoption of CDPs to centralize user data from various sources (web, app, CRM) into a single, persistent customer profile.
This evolution is crucial, especially when data shows 39% of sales close on mobile, likely influenced by earlier desktop sessions. The full article examines specific tools that are leading this change.
Amol has helped catalyse business growth with his strategic & data-driven methodologies. With a decade of experience in the field of marketing, he has donned multiple hats, from channel optimization, data analytics and creative brand positioning to growth engineering and sales.
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