According to a research conducted in Israeli university, people tends to make better decisions using their computers instead of smartphones or any other mobile device when it comes to online shopping.
The study shows how the screen sizes and the information provided about the product/service goes hand in hand.
Researcher Lior Fink, Ben Gurion University (BGU), Israel says ‘the issue is not actually screen size, it is actually the fact that sites adjusted for mobile viewing reduce the information offered on the results page and require more digging around in the site for information’. He added by saying ‘sites adjusted for PC viewing give more information right up front’.
According to Adobe Analytics, in 2018 alone, 47% of the total traffic and 36% of sales to the online stores came from phones.
Fink also explained in the study that “most e-commerce providers use ‘responsive web design’ to adapt the presentation of information to the device used’. Adding to it he said, ‘while mobile friendly presentation improves visibility, it reduces the amount of information and causes consumers to make decisions that are less consistent with their preferences’.
As per the study, it is better to provide the customers with all the information regardless of the device that is being used to surf the website and its content.
Though this will make it difficult for a customer to view the information, but their decisions will be much more precise.
For the research, researchers conducted experiment in the ‘Mobile Behaviour Lab’ wherein the participants were are to choose 1 room out of 11 options provided. They had the option to choose if they want to use a PC or a mobile device.
On PC, they viewed 8 pieces of information for each room, however only 3 on the mobile device, the important thing to note here is that no information was hidden on either of the devices, however it was well provided on the bigger PC display as opposed to mobile display.
Also, the experiment indicated that when the same information were presented on all the screens right where they were easily accessible by human eyes, participants made equally accurate decisions.
In the end, the study concluded that people are more likely to make less accurate and unaligned decisions with their likings not because of the device but rather because as to how the information is projected on the mobile display. Probably, people should stick to PC until companies come up with a way to share information irrespective of the screen size without affect the aesthetics of the platform.
Irrespective of what people are buying, may it be an electronic item, apparel, services, car, and etcetera, shoppers will be better off using a PC rather than a small screen device so that they see all the information easily and make the decisions better.
This study will be presented at the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) in Munich, Germany next month between 15th-18th December.
