Experienced versus inexperienced mobile users: eye tracking fashion consumers’ shopping behaviour on smartphones

The impact of COVID-19 on shopping behaviour preferences has resulted in the accelerated adoption of e-commerce and increased traffic of first-time e-commerce shoppers worldwide. This study compared experienced versus inexperienced mobile consumers’ shopping experiences on smartphones. A mixed-methods research, combining mobile eye-tracking technology and interviews, was employed. The comparison of experienced and inexperienced users showed significant differences in regards to time spent on various stages of the shopping journey, used elements of the website and problem areas encountered. Inexperienced users have higher expectations towards fashion retailer’s website. Mobile consumers’ prior experience using retailers’ digital shopping platform is a key parameter in user experience research and participants’ recruitment. The findings of this research have managerial and methodological implications and can be used in understanding the behaviour differences between current and potential customers, and in developing personalised shopping experiences on smartphones by feeding these into retailers’ digital analytics database and marketing strategy.