While most sales made via safe shopping online this year are projected to be conducted on portable devices, research from Contentsquare suggests that retailers are still missing a trick when it comes to converting casual mobile browsers into paying customers.

Just two per cent of people who visit shopping sites from smartphones end up making a purchase, which researchers believe is due to inadequate optimisation on the part of the retailers.

People who do end up placing an order from desktop computers typically take around 24 minutes to scour a site for the items they need, clocking up 28 page views in the process. On mobile devices this is lowered to a 21-minute investment of time, pointing to the fact that users tend to squeeze in this activity while they have a few spare minutes.

Even when mobile users do add items to their basket, just 16.8 per cent will then go on to complete the checkout process. In comparison, this rate sits at 32.2 per cent on traditional PCs and laptops, which shows just how much of a divide there is at the moment.

As well as addressing issues with mobile optimisation, experts suggest that it may be sensible for brands to worry less about conversion rates and instead focus more on ensuring that the experience of using the site is enjoyable in its own right. This is because tracking conversions in the multichannel age is difficult, with consumers often researching products on their smartphones before picking them up in-store.

Bricks-and-mortar retailers can leverage this trend to their advantage, while online-only outlets may need to think more carefully about the conversion tactics that they use in order to avoid losing business to companies that happen to occupy more than one platform at the moment.