Zara works to boost mobile web as UK smartphone traffic lags

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
May 30, 2018

Inditex’s Zara is working to boost the share of its web traffic generated by mobile devices as data shows that it currently lags the UK market as a whole in this area.

The company’s recently-opened Westfield London multichannel store reflects this strategy and is part of a mobile-focused approach that is intended to drive web sales rapidly higher.

Data from SimilarWeb shows that Zara’s mobile web traffic rose only 1% year-on-year in the 12 months to April, accounting for only 53% of all online visits. That means British Zara shoppers use desktop devices to access the webstore more than other chains’ customers do, running at 47% compared to an average 35.1% for the clothing industry overall in the UK.

Visitors using traditional computers appear to be more engaged, being on the site for 7:32 minutes, and visiting and average of 10.86 pages. By contrast, the average mobile-based visitor was on zara.com for 6:53 minutes. This may be better than the UK average of 6:01 minutes, but these browsers visited only 7.48 pages, worse than the average of 12 for the sector.

A high level of engagement is certainly a good thing for desktop/laptop computers, but given that almost 65% of clothing industry traffic is from mobile devices, Zara clearly needs to focus on mobile to boost the number of pages shoppers are viewing.

The opening of the Westfield store that features multiple technologies and a mobile-first outlook is clearly a first step in getting to customers who are smartphone-obsessed. 

SimilarWeb’s Gitit Greenberg said: “Zara’s move to leverage their offline strength to drive online value is very sophisticated and mirrors moves by other retail giants. Beyond the direct benefits of increasing the sophistication of their e-commerce capabilities, they are also making moves to adapt more effectively to UK online usage patterns.” 

Greenberg added that the move to integrate online and offline “indicates a push to make mobile a centrepiece of their strategy, and this could help Zara drive new online opportunities.”