The Poq app platform report for Q1-Q2 2014

Poq’s new data insights from our latest Platform Report, were recently featured in the article – ‘Nine Intriguing Internet Marketing Statistics We’ve Seen This Week‘ published on Econsultancy. The data sourced from one million sessions from apps powered on our platform, compared seventeen of our clients’ apps during Q1-Q2 of 2014. The report illustrates that not only are app users more engaged, and more valuable than mobile web users, but also that they look at more pages-per-session than on mobile web. Most importantly the conversion rate and average order value are higher in the apps than mobile websites.

See our graph featured on eConsultancy below:

Average conversion rates from 1m sessions, January to June 2014

The data above shows that while desktop is still winning out, app conversion rates shot up with in the beginning of January and since June has been steadily inclining under the 2.25% mark, while mobile web is lagging behind.

Apps vs. Mobile website screens per session 

Our data confirms what most industry research indicates, that engagement on mobile apps is greater than mobile websites.

Conversion rates

It’s easy to see the seasonality of retail in this graph. Most retailers go on sale in January, triggering higher conversion rates, then the low period in February and March creates the dip, but the second quarter with warmer weather sees increased sales and conversion rates again. Generally we have seen conversion rates of apps on the Poq platform increasing year-on-year compared to 2013 by more than 50%. This comes from increasing smartphone adoption, maturing app technologies and generally a rise of retail app usage.

In fact, we are predicting a strong increase in conversion rates year-on-year in 2015, as we are launching native checkouts on the platform. Native checkouts mean that the app can remember contact, delivery and credit card details. This means second time purchases will be essentially a ‘two-click’ checkout experience, making shopping on our clients’ apps even more convenient.

 Average order value (AOV)

The data above shows again the seasonality of retail, sales run by retailers decrease AOV during January and June. The average order value on the native apps was higher than any other channel (desktop and mobile websites) during February, March and May and consistently higher than mobile web during the first half of 2014 with an average of approximately £89.95 AOV.

Conclusion

Overall the Poq App Platform Report shows us that native retail apps are representing a great opportunity for retailers to engage mobile consumers on smartphones and tablets and increase online revenue. Consumers are showing a strong interest, based on real buying behaviour, in retailers’ native apps. A native app should be measured in terms of e-commerce performance, deliver a strong return on investment (ROI) and therefore needs to be a central part in a retailer’s online and multi-channel strategy.

We at Poq believe that the times when retailers have launched one-off campaign apps without commerce functionality need to be over now.

(View the full Platform Report on Slideshare below)