According to the latest data, there are twice as many active companies as there were the year before.
The 2013 Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide has shown that many of the leading companies are now realizing that mobile commerce is becoming increasingly important, and are beginning to become active in the channel with smartphone friendly websites and apps.
It showed that there were twice as many using m-commerce in 2012 as there were at the same time in 2011.
Last year, there were 322 merchants on the Top 500 list that had either a smartphone app or mobile commerce website (or both). In 2011, however, there were only 135 retailers that had taken this step to provide a smartphone friendly experience for consumers. The year before that, there were a mere 76 that had optimized.
That said, among those that have embraced mobile commerce, some have done so more aggressively than others.
The result, said the latest Top 500 report, was that some retailers have experienced a considerably higher increase in both shoppers and sales over mobile commerce than others. For instance, designer fashion retailer, RueLaLa (number 76 on the Top 500) revealed that of its entire online sales of $399.9 million last year, $67.5 million (16.9 percent) came from smartphone or tablet shoppers.
Similarly, at ShopNBC (number 98), the mobile commerce sales reached $60.0 million last year. This represented 22.4 percent of the total sales that were made online, at $268.2 million. Another example was Fab (number 150), which took in approximately $45.0 million through smartphone and tablet shoppers, which represented about 30 percent of its total online sales for the year, which were approximately $150.0 million.
These companies are starting to take serious notice that consumers are expecting them to offer a mobile commerce experience, and that if they want to maximize the success of their online shopping opportunities, they will need to optimize with at least a website or an app. Moreover, they are also finding that a simple presence isn’t enough, and that smartphone and tablet channels are becoming increasingly competitive as a growing number of consumers shop there.