Mobile shopping, particularly on tablet devices, is having an enormous impact on eCommerce. Increased spending is a result of smartphones and tablets becoming commonplace devices for shopping and buying online. Some mCommerce sales will be replacing purchases that would have happened online anyway, either via a PC or laptop, but there is no doubt that mobile is an ecommerce sales driver. It gives consumers the means to shift spending from stores to online and it increases impulse buying. A report by eMarketer shows that mobile currently accounts for 25% of all eCommerce retail in the UK and is set to grow to 40% by 2018. There are two main reasons for this extraordinary growth: mobile device ownership is rising and consumers find it easier and are more comfortable making purchases on these devices.
With all these new screens, businesses need a site that fits and there are two ways to approach this. You could create a website designed for desktop users and another, separately built site, developed for mobile users. Many company's adopt this strategy. The problem is, the sites are not quite the same. Busnesses now expect a seamless experience, no matter which device they are on, and this is something that can’t happen when you have two separately built sites. So, you risk damaging your brand and losing customers.
This has triggered a growth in the demand for responsive web design because these websites work equally well across every device.
A responsive website enables all of the content, images and structure of the site to remain the same on any device. It uses ‘media queries’ to determine the resolution it’s being served on and the website changes its appearance and layout based on the size of the screen. Responsive sites can be designed to make the text on the page larger and easier to read on smaller screens. They can also be configured to make the buttons on the mobile screen easier to press. Responsive websites provide a greater user experience across many devices. Fashion retailer bebe launched a new website recently which is using the technology to feature product detail across every device. It’s a very good example of how a site works across all platforms with no change to its look or compromise on quality.
However, there are other reasons to consider with a responsive web design.
Having a one site fits all approach means that you benefit from the cost saving of running just one website. Development time and staff costs are reduced as updating your site via CMS only needs to be done once with the changes adjusting to various devices.
Google prefers responsive web design as the recommended mobile configuration. Why? Because with just one site you have one URL and the same HTML across all devices. This doubles when you have separate sites. It means that Google can find you more easily, then index and organize all the online content. It also means that users can share your content on social media sites which can be viewed on any device with no change in quality. This keeps Google’s bounce rates to a minimum and ensures that your SEO is not compromised in any way.
Now, let’s consider those all important conversion rates. It’s not difficult to understand that if a website is not working on a mobile device, users cannot convert and will simply switch to a retailer that can accommodate them. A responsive website will stop this happening and so significantly improve this side of the business.
I should point out that a responsive website may not be the right way to go every time. Sometimes there are advantages to having a mobile specific website. Mobile websites have dedicated pages, structure and navigation optimized for mobile users. Content can include optimized multimedia files such as images and videos, which load quickly. Tablets and smartphones offer great features that can be used on the website, for example maps (location detection) and click-to-call buttons. It is much easier to integrate these things on a dedicated mobile website than a responsive website.
The fact is that mobile is now a part of everyday life so you need to make sure they have the same high quality experience however they choose to connect with you.
By Olga Travlos, Managing Director at Xanthos.
PrivSec Conferences will bring together leading speakers and experts from privacy and security to deliver compelling content via solo presentations, panel discussions, debates, roundtables and workshops.
For more information on upcoming events, visit the website.
comments powered by Disqus