The share of mobile transactions in the GCC at 43% is 4% higher than the global average, a new study has shown.
Some 86% of transactions in the Gulf Cooperation Council take place on smartphones, ranking the region No 2 worldwide, in contrast to just 14% on tablets, points out Criteo, a performance marketing technology company, in its ‘H1 2016 State of Mobile Commerce Report’.
The report has provided insights into consumer shopping habits and forecasts predictions for mobile commerce across the globe.
The report indicates that mobile devices are beginning to dominate the commerce landscape and retailers who can capitalise on this trend will be successful at driving transactions for the shopping seasons to follow.
 “As retailers evolve their mobile shopping platforms, mobile commerce has reached a turning point and is surpassing desktop purchasing. Middle Eastern markets witness some of the highest smartphone penetration in the world, and retailers must ensure more products are made available online, as well as create a seamless experience for consumers.
Currently, the GCC is second in the world in terms of smartphone share among mobile transactions. Keeping this in mind, brands have the opportunity to master this trend and have a head start on competitors, should they choose to utilise it,” said Dirk Henke, managing director (Emerging Markets) Criteo.
In the researched GCC countries (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar), the share of mobile transactions is 43%, which is 4% higher than the worldwide average of 39%.
The GCC share of mobile transactions is 4th highest globally after Japan, the UK and South Korea, the report noted.
The smartphone continues to expand its prominence as the go-to shopping device, especially as features like fingerprint recognition make transactions effortless, while tablet purchasing steadily declines.
As more retailers design mobile-friendly sites, mobile transactions are steadily increasing. All retailers should ensure they have a mobile-centric marketing strategy that embraces in-app and mobile web to meet their smartphone-focused audiences, it said.
Top retailers are building savvy, intuitive and useful shopping apps that give consumers a seamless way to shop on mobile devices. Capabilities like home screen presence, instant loading, offline content, push notifications, personalisation and access to native functionality make the mobile shopping experience richer and more immersive for consumers. Brands that can deliver this feature-rich environment and create a unified, consistent and relevant experience for shoppers regardless of device will succeed in driving retention and conversion rates, the report said.
Retailers with a sophisticated mobile app presence saw up to 54% of their mobile transactions generated in-app in Q2 2016, an increase from 47% in 2015.
Apps close far more deals than other online shopping channels and convert three times more shoppers than mobile web.
For the first time, mobile apps saw higher order values than desktop and mobile web, with an average of $127 spent in-app versus $100 on desktop and $91 on mobile web, the report noted.