• by Bryan Harmon , March 28, 2014

It’s no secret that e-commerce has been rising and, usually, the more popular something becomes, the better the experience gets, but e-commerce has gone the other way.

Meanwhile, American Customer Satisfaction Index recently reported a 12-year-low for online shopping.

One of the critical pieces to the overall satisfaction of e-commerce lies in mobile. You might think it is mobile shopping, since that side of the sector has been the main focus of e-commerce with companies like eBay and Amazon putting all their attention and resources to shopping apps and mobile buying.

But it’s the other side, the supply side, mobile selling, that is struggling.

Amazon is just starting to realize that, and recently released a partial-feature mobile app, that lets mobile sellers copy other listing, a step in the right direction because everyone is mobile, not just buyers.

Unfortunately, mobile sellers have been ignored and forced to deal with outdated online selling technologies and need advanced on-the-go features, such as analytics.

Marketplaces like eBay could not have predicted the mobile evolution when they were first building their platform, and now that they have grown to be a massive site, it’s impossible to change the foundation of their technology now.

The extent to which they’ve helped mobile sellers is by putting the same old process on your device or making sellers duplicate existing listings. If a seller wants to list a unique or used item, or if they want to create their own customized listing, the seller has to navigate through a long, intimidating form and try to come up with descriptions, titles and images that will get their item sold.

More often than not, the seller is not the expert on the item. The individual might not have advanced writing or proofreading skills, nor are they a professional photographer who understands lighting and exposure.

It is no wonder the overall online satisfaction index is declining.  Amateur sellers are influencing the professional commerce world with rudimentary listings, or are forced to copy each other’s listings.

The only way to increase online retail satisfaction is to focus on the seller and provide them with the tools they need to create efficient listings with precise, but customizable information, quality images, even video – and since everyone is mobile, sellers have to be able to do all of it  from a mobile device.

A smartphone or tablet allows access to the listing process and the ability to take and edit photos and videos, and voice-dictate your description instead of typing it out, one-stop-shop advantages unsurpassed by a desktop computer.

Not only does mobility make it easier,  now it’s expected.  Millennials appreciate  and demand up-to-date technology and rich add-ons such as product videos. To keep the supply of sellers, we have to accommodate this new generation.

There has been some progress with people realizing the need for easier mobile selling, but until both sides of e-commerce are fully mobile, don’t expect the downward trend of customer satisfaction to reverse.