Mobile vs desktop user search behaviours of the 1300K site, a Korean shopping search engine

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to investigate and compare mobile and desktop user search behaviours of the 1300K site, a Korean shopping search engine, by using transaction log analysis. Design/methodology/approach Transaction logs of 1300K site were collected over a three months’ period, from 1 January to 31 March 2018. The data set of this study consists of 1,149,690 desktop queries, 2,346,938 mobile queries, 2,481,747 desktop browsing activities and 2,550,309 mobile browsing activities. This study quantitatively analyses transaction log of 1300K site. Findings The results of this study show that mobile usage is higher than desktop usage: there are more mobile sessions than desktop sessions and the number of mobile queries is more than double of desktop queries. Overall, mobile query search behaviours are more simple, targeted and focused than desktop query search behaviours. Also, mobile browsing behaviours are more simple and passive than desktop browsing behaviours. However, mobile click behaviours are more active than desktop click behaviours. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study appears to be the first of its type in Korea that compared search behaviours of a large number of users on desktop computers and mobile phones. To identify various characteristics of user search behaviours, this study analyses users’ directory browsing behaviour and click behaviour as well as query search behaviour. The results of this study can be implemented to address the effective improvement and development of search services and interfaces for different devices.