Ahead of London Fashion Week, personalisation platform Nosto looked into the online shopping habits of British fashionistas to discover desktop still drives the most revenue for retailers.

That’s despite m-commerce in the UK as a whole taking a 51% share of total online retail sales, and the fashion vertical boasting a leading reputation in driving business through mobile.

Analysing data from 700 small to large merchants in Europe, Nosto has found that in the first half of 2016, the average order value (AOV) of British shoppers was at its peak on desktop (£116), while tablet purchases fell not too far behind (£107). On mobile, it was a considerably lower £89.

Snagging sales

Across all devices, Brits were the second biggest spenders in Europe with an AOV of £111, outrun only by the Nordics at £123, and well ahead of Spain (£95), Germany (£93) and France (£86).

In terms of m-commerce specifically, the Brits ranked third with an AOV at £89; slightly less than the Nordics’ £101 and France’s £96. According to Nosto’s CPO and founder Juha Valvanne, UK shoppers are more and more comfortable browsing for clothes on their phones, but the there’s still work to be done.

“The next challenge to be tackled will be in converting these interested customers into paying ones and increasing their average order value,” she explained.

Mobile opportunity

On the continent fashion, online and offline, is worth some £314 million annually according to Valvanne, and e-commerce is playing an ever greater part. In fact, online sales took a 16% year-on-year increase in retailers’ revenue in the first half of the year, presenting a massive opportunity for increased headway into mobile commerce.  

Progress of this is evident in the UK where H2 saw traffic merchants’ snag a 28% traffic increase across all devices, with mobile taking a 29% share of these total referrals.

However, despite the fashion industry leading the worldwide charge in m-commerce, in part driven by its visual nature aiding on-the-go purchases coupled with the heavy influence of social platforms such as Instagram, it’s yet to tip the balance into a majority stake of spend.

“Fashion fans typically have less patience than other shoppers: mobile bounce rate is the highest of any device and time on site is also the lowest, so retailers really need to make it easy for them to find the items they are looking for – speak to their customers as individuals and delivering them inspiring, engaging shopping experiences,” commented Nosto CEO Matti Rönkkö.