Why it's vital for retailers to have a mobile strategy [Q&A]
We already know that having a mobile friendly site is important to search rankings, and with Google's announcement in March that it will start to rank mobile-ready sites even higher, companies are likely to focus even more on the mobile experience.
It's particularly important for retailers to connect with millennial shoppers who are more likely to research or buy using their mobile devices. We spoke to Aaron Shook, executive software architect of digital transformation specialist PointSource, to find out why a mobile strategy and good design are key to success.
BN: How important is it for shopping sites to deliver a positive mobile experience?
AKS: Very. Not only does mobile friendliness now affect SEO holistically (desktop included), but it also is a huge driver in determining mobile conversion rate and overall traffic numbers. A poor mobile user experience will send users directly to competitors who offer better experiences on the customer's device.
BN: Does a move towards more mobile friendly sites risk alienating older users?
AKS: No. E-comm sites can be mobile friendly without being flashy. Mobile friendliness simply means that you cater to the device that your user is viewing your page on; older users have a similar need for mobile pages to be easily viewable when using mobile devices. Design differences around flashiness, button sizes, etc. can be driven by analyzing your user demographics, but mobile friendliness is a must regardless of age group.
BN: Are we seeing a trend towards accessing retails sites using apps rather than browsers and what impact does this have?
AKS: For every-day retail shopping, I don't think that retail-branded apps will outpace mobile web in the foreseeable future. When users have simple purchases to make, their go-to is still going to be a web browser rather than downloading a retail-specific app. That said, apps are very valuable because they allow retailers to occupy real estate on users' phones and thus every day lives and continually engage the user. The most loyal customers who are spending the most with your brand are also the ones who will keep brand-specific apps installed, so providing these customers with additional value-adds through an app to reward them for loyalty is definitely a revenue driver. A solid mobile strategy needs to account for both mobile web and apps.
BN: How can mobile be used to enhance the physical in-store experience?
AKS: Newer technologies are making it possible to track user journeys through stores in ways that we couldn't have imagined prior to smartphones. Beacon technologies can allow retailers to track user movements through the store in order to optimize shopping patterns, send promotions, and gain a firm understanding of the user journey in a brick-and-mortar setting.
BN: Surveys have shown that surfers visit fewer pages of a site on mobile devices than they do on desktops. How can retailers adapt to this?
AKS: Our belief is that a big part of the reason for this pattern is twofold, and the reasons are heavily intertwined. Firstly users often pull out mobile phones to research a specific item rather than to browse e-comm storefronts since browsing is easier on a desktop device. Second, user experiences on retail mobile sites are still not up to par with desktop experiences, making it more difficult to shop on the majority of sites. We've seen huge gains in overall traffic, page views per user, average usage time, etc. by designing mobile websites with experiences specifically catering to the needs of mobile users. Designing an experience specifically for your mobile users is a must in order to truly unlock an e-comm mobile site's full potential.
BN: Will we see numbers of mobile shoppers continuing to increase or are we reaching a plateau?
AKS: Numbers continue to rise and don't show signs of stopping any time soon. 2015's holiday period mobile numbers set record numbers for mobile across the board, as did 2014, 2013, and so on. While 2013 and 2014 mobile transaction numbers were still relatively low compared to desktop counterparts, 2015 saw a rise of customers checking out and completing purchases on mobile. According to IBM, more than 36 percent of e-commerce sales during the 2015 holiday period took place on mobile devices, up from 27 percent the year before. The numbers may eventually plateau, but we are not anywhere close to that point yet.
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