New survey finds m-commerce is a necessity for fashion retailers
A new survey has revealed that an overwhelming majority of fashion retailers believe that mobile shopping should form an essential part of their business.
The survey commissioned by m-commerce experts MoPowered found that 84% of the small-to-medium sized fashion enterprises surveyed did not have a mobile site. However, 89% believed m-commerce to be essential to the future success of their business.
Dominic Keen, chief executive of MoPowered, said: “Fashion retailers are amongst the most visionary in the retail sector and they are right to think that creating an m-site for consumers to shop on their smartphones has now become essential to the success of their business.
“They recognise the importance of increasing the touch points with potential customers and the importance of becoming mobile friendly in order to survive. With comScore reporting that more than 28 million smartphones in use across the UK ‒ an increase of 38% since a year ago ‒ more consumers will be using mobiles as their primary point of internet access over the next decade, making being mobile-compatible critical to the survival of retail.
Never Miss a Retail Update!“Recent research by Google shows that at least 15% of all online traffic is now coming through mobile meaning not being handset optimised is equivalent to shutting your online store for a day of every week.”
While retailers recognised the need to go mobile, those surveyed said they were prevented from doing so by the perceived high cost, lack of resource and security concerns. 33% were concerned about the risk of mobile payments while 36% thought it would be too time-consuming. Despite hesitating to go mobile, retailers reported that they believed m-commerce sales would increase by a third over the next 5 years.
Keen added: “Whereas previously a retailer would be looking at a high up-front cost to develop a mobile site, it is now possible for retailers to pay-as-they-use similar to the Google PPC pricing for online ads. Retailers that don’t offer mobile shopping are losing out on sales because mobile transactions are not being converted due to users’ difficulties in navigating non-mobile optimised sites. This is an easily avoidable situation.”
The survey found that when retailers had used non-optimised sites to make a purchase, more than a quarter had completely abandoned the transaction as it had taken too long, while 79% said they found the process slow and difficult to navigate.
Keep up-to-date with the latest mobile retailing ideas by atending the Retail Bulletin’s Mobile Retailing Summit 26th September 2012. The theme of the day is How to improve sales, loyalty and customer experience in an increasing mobile marketplace. Speakers and panelists for this event include: The Carphone Warehouse, • Waitrose.com • ASDA • Shop Direct Group • Carphone Warehouse • Thetrainline.com • Ladbrokes •Chiltern Railways •Javelin Group •Mobileweb Company •FICO •Hailo •Mobile Money Network.
To make sure of your place and view the full programme, click here.
