ANZ consumers prefer computers over smartphones

Consumers from Australia and New Zealand significantly prefer making purchases via desktop, despite browsing traffic continuing to move towards smartphones, according to the latest research from Adobe.

In its latest report, the software multinational aggregated anonymous data from approximately 100 billion visits to 3,000+ websites across the region during the 2016 calendar year and found that while ANZ consumers are among those leading the shift from desktops (52.5 per cent share of browser traffic) to smartphones (37.7 per cent share of browser traffic), desktop conversion rates (2.9 per cent) were three times that of smartphones (0.8 per cent).

Comparing data from Australia and New Zealand, Southeast Asia, India, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and the United States, the report found that the top 20 per cent of websites in ANZ, are widening the gap compared with average websites, seeing a 5.8 per cent desktop conversion rate versus the average of 2.9 per cent.  Along with Japan (5.8 per cent), ANZ’s best are achieving higher desktop rates than the United States (5.4 per cent).

Becky Tasker, activity is shifting towards smartphones, consumers in Australia and New Zealand still prefer senior manager, Adobe Digital Insights, said showed that while browsing to make their final purchase via desktop.

“Smartphone traffic and conversion rates are rising, but ANZ’s best marketers recognise that the desktop is still likely to be the final destination, even in a cohesive multi-device experience,” said Tasker.

Adobe also said there has been evolution in the way consumers are engaging with the technology. While tech websites maintain one of the highest visit rates, the sector has also seen the time consumers spend during these visits decreasing – the customer journey now consists of interactions that are more numerous, but shorter.

“With the customer journey now involving an increasing number of interactions across a range of devices, we need to keep pace with changing customer expectations,” said Danielle Uskovic, head of digital & social, Lenovo Asia Pacific.