Here's what happened in e-commerce this week

Happy Weekend! E-Commerce Weekender is a collection of our favorite e-commerce news of the week from BI Intelligence, Business Insider's paid research service.

DESKTOP COMMERCE DIMINISHES AS MOBILE GAINS POPULARITY: Mobile devices are quickly gaining popularity as the preferred online shopping method among consumers. In prior years, mobile devices have struggled to gain footing in the e-commerce industry. Consumers cited reasons like the ease of use, and smoother checkout processes as their reason for preferred shopping on a desktop. However, as more and more retailers are focusing on their digital footprint, their efforts are focused on developing and optimizing their mobile sites and apps.

As of June 2015, mobile devices accounted for 28% of all online revenue, a 17% year-over-year increase, according to a new report from Branding Brand. In contrast, desktop shares of online revenue decreased from 76% in June 2014 to 72% in June 2015. Not only is mobile commerce increasing, but it is likely also having an impact on the number of desktop sales made.

As we previously reported, there's still a large monetization gap between mobile retail browsing and conversion, though. This disparity is likely due to the poor checkout experience on smartphones. However, the gap will likely close as better mobile checkout experiences proliferate, like those offered through Apple Pay and Braintree.

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SAVVY MILLENNIALS PLAY THE INTERNET FOR BETTER SHOPPING DEALS: As online retailers make increased conversion rates a priority, many offer temporary discounts to entice shoppers to complete a purchase. However, younger consumers are learning to navigate the e-commerce back roads in order to get these deals every time they shop. Those born between 1980 and 2000, commonly referred to as millennials, are spending more online annually than any other age bracket. And these millennials are using simple tricks to get retailers to send them coupons.

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  47% of millennials will purposely leave items in their shopping cart in hopes that the retailer will reach out with an offer to help close the sale, according to a new report from Mindshare North America.
• 39% of millennials clear their online search history to get better prices from online sellers.
• 26% of millennials have purposely entered a fake birth date in order to receive a discount.
• 70% of millennials search for promo codes online before purchasing.

These younger shoppers are not just using sleights of logic to score online deals. Millennials are also depending on their mobile devices as necessary tools when shopping online and in-store. Immediate access to the internet provides these consumers with constant access to price- and product-comparison services.

• Barcode scanner apps allow consumers to find the same product in the store for the cheapest price online.
• 59% of US millennials use a mobile device to compare prices when shopping, according to a report from Razorfish.
• 66% of millennials have a vested interest in new mobile payment services to make their online shopping experience more seamless.

FAST SHIPPING INCREASES CUSTOMER LOYALTY: Quick delivery has become such an important factor to shoppers that it's now influencing long-term customer loyalty as well as how likely someone is to recommend a retailer to others, according to a report from Shopatron.

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  87% of customers who received an online order in five days or less became a promoter, what Shopatron calls "a customer who is a repeat buyer, brand evangelist, or refers the retailer to other shoppers."
• Among customers who received an order in longer than five days, only 66% became promoters.

The Shopatron report also reported that shipments fulfilled directly by a brand and physical retailers tend to be slower on average than online retailers, though it is not specified by how much. This is likely due to the fact that online retailers can invest money - that otherwise would have gone to building stores - into fulfillment networks and large warehouses.

As we previously reported, the importance of establishing repeat customers is something that retailers need to address early on. The top quartile of global e-commerce companies begin seeing the majority of their revenues coming from repeat customers at around the two-year mark. Thus, any new players entering the e-commerce industry should make delivery options a top priority.

CUSTOMER PERSONALIZATION RESULTS IN MORE SALES: Personalizing the e-commerce experience for customers leads to more transactions and money spent, according to the latest study from L2. The top three ways online retailers can use customer data to sell more products is by recommending similar, complementary, or recently viewed items. However, brands are not using this to their advantage.

• About 50% of the brands surveyed utilize only one method of upselling.
• Only 7% of retailers have the capability to track consumers across different channels and devices.

The potential for integrating customer data is increasing all the time. For example, the growing presence of beacons and other proximity-based marketing systems can help brands identify someone shopping in a store based on his/her online shopping behavior. Brands and retailers can then use that data to more effectively target that shopper with coupons and offers.

FACEBOOK IS CHANGING THE WAY IT CHARGES ADVERTISERS: Measuring the return on investment of Facebook ad spending is about to get a lot easier. Facebook's advertisers will now only be charged for "link clicks", should the user click through to the marketer's external content including websites, app install pages, or e-commerce landing pages, reports TechCrunch. Previously, Facebook measured its cost-per-click (CPC) rates to include Likes, Comments, and Shares of an ad unit. Advertisers can still pay for rates on Likes, Shares, and Comments but this will now be part of a separate category.

This new distinction provides online retailers with a more accurate assessment of the way their presence on Facebook influences shoppers. A Facebook user "Liking" or commenting on a post does not indicate that they did further research or purchased anything from the brand. Yet until now, the companies were being charged for these actions as though they held the same implications for their advertisement as did a conversion or increased traffic.

Facebook is currently the highest-performing social referral channel with approximately 2.7% of traffic that it refers to e-commerce sites converting into a sale for that brand or retailer.

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