As consumers reprioritize again, due to rising inflation (73 percent of consumers say they are extremely concerned), brands and retailers must continue to face unpredictable change.
To help companies better understand what high-value shoppers are actively seeking to discover and purchase products, Syte, the product discovery platform that works with brands and retailers including Farfetch, Prada and Shien, analyzed data from more than 1.2 billion e-commerce sessions from January to June 2022. The company sought to answer which devices are consumers shopping on, which traffic channels are most engaging and enticing to big spenders and what types of products are shoppers looking for.
In its analysis, Syte’s report notes key trends, including that in fashion, “brand is everything.” Breaking this down, the company found that nearly half (49 percent) of all sessions taking place on fashion e-commerce sites in the first half of 2022 came from direct traffic sources. More than any other traffic source, these shoppers also convert at the highest rate, more than doubling the rate of traffic from Google Ads. These direct traffic shoppers are also found to be the primary users of visual search and personalization tools on a brand’s site as a means of product discovery.
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Proving the importance of providing a meaningful, seamless experience across all platforms, from discovery to purchase, Syte highlights that for the first time, the home decor category has found popularity in mobile purchasing and discovery, with 52.9 percent of its transactions taking place on a mobile device. This shift in consumer behavior, the authors of the report said, signifies a need for the industry’s overall approach to ensure the best customer experience on all screens.
Syte’s data also revealed a notable comfort level for mobile shopping sessions and transactions, seeing 80 percent of fashion shoppers opt for smaller devices. Still, fashion shoppers continue to spend 30.5 percent more time on-site during desktop shopping sessions and visit more pages per session on average. Additionally, the average spend goes up from $92.40 on mobile to $133.40 on desktop.
What are shoppers looking for during discovery, shopping sessions? When looking at trends, Syte’s report finds that “the way forward is bright and comfortable.” Popular colors include light yellow (up 56 percent), light purple (up 30.7 percent) and light green (up 33.5 percent). Colors declining in popularity were camel and chocolate, which the authors of the report say could “signify the beginning of the end of the ‘clean’ aesthetic that favors neutral shades and simple designs.”
Though while consumers are excited about pretty pastels, Syte’s data shows that consumers are not interested in upgrading to “festive footwear” instead opting for comfortable shoes. Popular products in this category were revealed as Crocs at an order increase of 397.8 percent, Birkenstock with a 130.5 percent order increase. As a style, wedges also grew by 46.2 percent.
Other trends showed shoppers pivoting away from fur and feathers, instead preferring textures like eyelet (168.4 percent increase) and straw (90.4 percent increase).
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