The worldwide advertising and telecommunications firm Havas reported last week that U.S. consumers have been slower to transition from e-commerce to online shopping than users in some other markets. Only 16 percent of online consumers in the U.S. have used a mobile device to shop online, according to Havas, while mobile shopping is much more commonplace in China (50 percent) and India (42 percent). And although 43 percent of respondents worldwide used their phones for “showrooming” in retail stores, less than one-third of U.S. consumers reported doing so.

It’s not a huge surprise that mobile shopping has taken off in some emerging markets, where fixed-line web access can sometimes be hard to come by. But the digital commerce firm Skava has fresh data this week that also helps explain that gap. Skava surveyed nearly 2,100 U.S. smartphone owners and found that 88 percent of respondents said they had “experienced negative issues” while shopping on their handsets, and 30 percent saying they never return to the site if they experience was sub-par. One-third of respondents said they immediately go to a competitor’s site after a sour mobile shopping experience.

Both Havas and Skava have skin in the mobile shopping game, of course, and results of surveys such as these should always be taken with a grain of salt. But anyone who has spent much time shopping on their mobile phone knows that far too many retail sites make it difficult for consumers to compare goods and make online purchases on their handsets. Retailers who want to leverage the smartphone boom need to make a solid mobile site a top priority.