As m-commerce continues to take off, and as smartphones and tablets become more commonly used, companies are now beginning to look at the potential that these mobile devices offer for driving sales both online and in-store.
Though many businesses are getting a foot in the door of the mobile commerce environment by using basic m-commerce templates, others are looking to the Capital Online Revenue online educational resource, which provides best practices for e-commerce, in order to choose the appropriate direction for their mobile experience.
For example, though 1-800-Flowers.com began their entry into m-commerce with a common model for its initial site, it has since become dissatisfied with the experience it was providing, and it overhauled the entire mobile site. The new website was first launched in September 2011 and in the months since that time it has seen an online revenue traffic increase of 25 percent.
Their technique was to transfer the e-commerce platform experience over to the new design for the m-commerce site. This doesn’t mean that it was the identical site, but it does offer the aspects of the e-commerce site that the customers most enjoyed.
According to Kevin Ranford, the 1-800-Flowers.com vice president of online marketing, mobile, and social media, “Integrating relevant critical functionality from a company’s E-commerce site into a mobile offering is something mobile-savvy shoppers have come to expect from their preferred retailers.”
Ranford added that the new mobile website experience was designed to provide visitors with the most positive experience possible so that they could find everything they need – ranging from finding the gift they want or checking on an order status – quickly and easily.
