Tag Archives: mobile site

One in two retailers now use m-commerce, as mobile becomes top priority

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Mobile commerce has hit the tipping point with the majority of Australian retailers now selling via mobile devices, according to a study.

Presented at the Online Retailer Conference & eCommerce Expo in Sydney this morning, Forrester’s study found that 55% of online retailers are now selling through an avenue that is accessible on mobile, a figure that has grown from 39% in 2011.

But not only has the use of mobile grown, it has also surged to the top of the investment priority list, overtaking the core ecommerce platform as the most commonly cited priority for the future. Among those already selling via the mobile web, 49% said that mobile sites were a top investment priority for the year ahead. Furthermore, 54% of multichannel retailers and 29% of pure-play online retailers say mobile sites are now a top technology investment priority for the year ahead.

Senior analyst at Forrester Research, Steven Noble, noted that in the three years that Forrester has conducted the survey proficiency with the use of connected sales channels has improved dramatically.

“Previously, we’d found retailers that were struggling to find enough time to address even basic issues like the need for good product photography,” Noble told attendees of the conference. “This time around we found significant investment programs such as mobile commerce usage and uptake.”

However, despite the growth of mobile and apps, Australian retailers still take quite a narrow approach to mobile, the study found. Most are focused on the purchasing phase and are neglecting the role that mobile commerce could play within the wider customer life cycle, including marketing or customer service. Only 5% are currently using mobile channel usage data to better understand their customers.

Also speaking at today’s conference was Carol Steinberg of ShopNBC, Tim Kilroy from  Wayfair and Amy Africa from Eight by Eight. Tomorrow will see presenters from my-wardrobe.com and Forrester Research.

Mobile site versus app

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I recently had the pleasure of presenting at the Victorian Tourism Conference on ‘Maintaining the Attention Span of Gen Z’. A topic of relevance for any organisation in any industry. I highly recommend considering how you plan to communicate with this up-and-coming segment as they are (if not already) soon to become your next target audience.

In the panel session to follow it was evident that the question on everybody’s lips was “should I build a mobile website or application?” And a very good question it is. For those of you hanging on your seats for the answer, my response and more below….

In my mind, when addressing the website vs. application debate, there are a few key considerations:

  • Your target audience

  • Your budget

  • Your timeline

  • Value

  • User Experience

Your target audience

Your target audience is the best place to start when considering whether to build a mobile website or application. Younger generations will appreciate an application much more than older generations; who may have only just wrapped their heads around social media and the fact that you can access the world wide web from your phone! Beyond an educated guess, commercial website analytics packages now offer information on percentages of website traffic arriving from various platforms and devices. If very little traffic is arriving via mobile devices, this would be a good indication not to leap into the development of an application (and vice versa). As your mobile traffic grows however (and trust me, it will), it is extremely important to have a mobile-friendly website. From there you can take next steps as you see fit.

Your budget

Your budget is another key consideration. How much do you have to spend? A mobile friendly version of your website could cost anywhere between $2,500 upwards, depending on your supplier and the level of development you require, and is accessible by all phones with an internet browser; whereas mobile application development sits in the tens of thousands , and is accessible only by the smartphone it was built for (eg. An iPhone app is not compatible with an Android phone).

Your timeline

If speed to market is critical, a mobile website is the way to go. Applications take much longer to develop as they are generally built from scratch and also require comprehensive auditing before approval is granted for listing in an App Store.

Value

A mobile website will ensure your visitors enjoy a positive online experience from anywhere, at any time and will without a doubt be worth the investment. On the other hand, the number of applications on the market has more than doubled in the last year alone, and the market is soon to become saturated. Prime real estate will soon be hard to come by, and unless you plan on developing an application that will offer real value to your customers, don’t do it.  

User Experience

Mobile websites and applications are all about user experience, and having one or the other (or both) will always be better than doing nothing at all. Having said that, the level of interactivity possible is much greater when using an application opposed to using a mobile website, because an application can leverage the hardware of the smartphone it was built for (GPS, motion, etc).

Lastly, a little bit of mythbusting for you

Both a mobile website and a mobile application offer real estate on home screens – so if brand awareness is an objective but an application isn’t in this year’s budget, promote your mobile website, and ask visitors to ‘save to home page’. Many believe the icon function is limited to applications, but users can simply ‘save to home page’ – and favourite mobile websites can be ‘iconised’, just like applications. This little piece of functionality is still in the discovery phase and is increasingly growing in popularity. Competitive advantage anyone?

So for those of you who have been up in the air on the mobile site versus app debate, I hope this helps. For any further advice, pros or cons drop me a line; or if you have anything to add to the debate I’d love to hear from you…

I.D.E.A.S claims first Aussie agency mobile site

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Creative agency I.D.E.A.S. has announced what it claims to be an Australian first with the launch of a mobile website: ideassydney.mobi.

The agency indicated that, like a traditional website, the site will provide an overview of the agency and its work for potential clients and mobile viewers.

“Traditional websites are often a pain to view on a mobile phone – lots of time loading, scrolling and way too much information for a small screen,” explained I.D.E.A.S. managing partner Adrian Leppard.

“With mobile marketing about to take off in Australia, we were surprised that we couldn’t find any Australian creative agencies with a mobisite. After all, it’s hard to talk to a client about mobile marketing if you don’t fully embrace the media yourself.”

The agency indicated that it wanted to make the best of the popularity of the mobile platform, which offers the flexibility that a general website doesnt allow.

The year of the mobile – no, really!

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Some were disillusioned last year when ‘the year of the mobile’ didn’t quite reach expectations. While the astounding rate of smartphone adoption and the explosion of practical and fanciful mobile apps kicked off widespread acceptance that mobile is here to stay, the ‘mcommerce explosion’ we were expecting was anticlimactic at best, and there were serious blunders in the form of clunky user interfaces and egocentric communication.

The stage is set, and it’s lights, camera, action on the year of the mobile. As mainstream adoption of the mobile web takes hold, it’s a time of opportunity for organisations quick to make the most of first mover advantages in the mobile arena. Rapidly and wholeheartedly, organisations have embraced the web and its evolving technologies as a surefire way to engage target audiences and make the most of their marketing budgets. With solid ground to stand on, marketing managers will now face the challenge of convincing top management to invest in mobile web. My top three supporting arguments?

1. 

Reach

The use of mobile web is only going to increase over the coming years – greater availability of WiFi, improved usability and functionality and enhanced virtualisation technology will see mobile phones become mobile workstations, enabling users to accomplish the same tasks once reserved for the office or laptop, anywhere, anytime from their mobile device. Mobile web presence increases visibility and accessibility, and mobile advertising has so far been well received. The use of GPS technology has seen successful engagement with customers and prospects with relevant, real-time, location triggered promotions, sales and coupons, with which responsiveness can be measured quickly and effectively. As the technology improves and trust builds, organisations will be able to gain access to priceless market research (like exactly where visitors were when they researched your organisation – think of the feedback you could receive regarding location-based promotions!), and the results will speak for themselves (high standards for protection of privacy are vital here).



2. Brand Awareness

The global search market generates over 100 billion searches per month, and effective SEO has seen thousands of companies improve brand awareness, advance website rankings, and generate high quality website traffic and conversions. So what? Search engines have a separate index for mobile content, and at the moment they’re practically empty. Imagine coming up first in every search result for all of your keywords…


3. Competition

Mcommerce will boom this year, and there will be many first-time users out there whose loyalty is up for grabs. If you don’t get in first your competitors will, and if you don’t have a dedicated mobile website, slow loading times and a poor user interface is likely to send customers running.

The key to success is in the creation of a customer-focused website that delivers a positive user experience, fast. We recently launched a major entertainment brand’s first mobile website, and for those of you out there considering doing the same, here are my top tips:

  • Preempt needs:
    Automatically send mobile users to a dedicated mobile version of your website, rather than having them reach your full website only to scramble for the ‘mobile site’ option. Using simple PHP commands you can automatically redirect mobile users that arrive at your desktop site to the mobile-friendly version.


  • Less is more:
    These fast-paced users are on the run, and don’t have the time or patience to sit and surf a mobile website in its entirety. Truly mobile-friendly websites offer minimalist design and only the most relevant information. Providing simple, intuitive navigation is imperative, and marketing messages should be stripped down to the essentials. 


  • Make it snappy:
    Keep page sizes small – less than 10KB if possible, with minimal use of tables and imagery. Mobile pages take longer to load due to slower network speeds, and mobile devices have limited memory (in comparison to your laptop or desktop). Forrester Research recently reported nearly half of all users abandon a website if they perceive a page or feature takes longer than a few seconds to load. The 3G network may be the fastest mobile internet available but it is still considerably slower than basic ADSL or cable connections, so it’s important to keep the amount of information being pulled from the server to a minimum. 


  • Test, test, test:
    There are hundreds of mobile devices in the world today that are capable of accessing the internet, and the worst case scenario is spending all the time and money investing in building and promoting a mobile website, only to launch without extensively testing. What felt like weeks of testing was all worth it in the end for us. Spend the time and effort getting it right and reap the rewards.

With the recent release of Google’s new smartphone, it will certainly be interesting to see who the main contenders will be this year. Who are your current favourites and why?


PMG and m.Net to launch FOX Sports m-site

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m.Net is partnering with Premier Media Group (PMG) to release the FOX Sports-branded m-site.

The m-site is a dedicated mobile site for FOXSports.com.au that will focus on delivering sports news, live scores, results and coming fixtures from the range of sports covered by FOX SPORTS.

The m-site is available on all mobile phones with internet browsing capability and on all Australian mobile networks.

“It’s quite a challenge taking the amount of live scoring and news data we have available and translating it into a mobile site. m.Net have shown their professionalism, commitment and flexibility in helping us deliver this content to the mobile sports fan,” asserts FOX Sports chief operating officer, Jon Marquard.

The launch of the FOX Sports m-site also includes the second phase of the project that includes news, live scores and stats coverage of AFL, NRL, rugby union, football, cricket, golf, motor sports and tennis.

“Australians have always been passionate sports fans with a big appetite for the latest sports news and are early adopters of new technology,” says m.Net chief marketing officer, Scott Johnson.

BBC.com launches mobile site ad initiative

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BBC.com, the BBC’s international website outside of the UK, has announced today it will be enabling advertising on its international mobile site for the first time.

Due to the rapid growth of the mobile internet market in the UK, the site will allow advertisers to increase their reach to BBC consumers and opt for specific devices and regions to successfully connect with their target audience.

The BBC has been providing news and sports coverage for mobile since 1999, using text, photos, audio and video to reach what is increasingly being referred to as the ‘always on’ consumer – those who have constant access or engagement with their mobile handset.

Recent Informa Nielsen mobile research has indicated there are four billion mobile phone subscriptions globally and predicts 90% of the world will have access to mobile phone coverage in 2010.

“This is a really important part of our strategy for BBC.com and I’m so pleased we can offer advertisers a new avenue to reach our audiences. The mobile internet market is expanding rapidly as consumers increasingly desire immediate access to content on the move. Our mobile site is something we are really proud of,” says Kym Niblock, BBC.com’s managing director.