76% of UK high street retailers don’t have a mobile website or mobile-optimised content, according to a YouGov survey commissioned by mobile marketing and business solutions company 2ergo. And even mobile-ready retailers are poorly prepared, with almost 20% lacking m-commerce capabilities and many others choosing to focus on iPhone users.
Yet the same survey found that 54% of consumers who browsed the web on their smartphone felt comfortable making a purchase via m-commerce. The main reason for dissatisfaction was difficulty in viewing content (49%), followed by slow websites (34%).
Colin McCaffery, Product and Technology Director at 2ergo, said “The new generation of mobile operating systems has brought with it a new breed of consumers, no longer satisfied with simple content and features, but increasingly more comfortable with sharing data and transacting via mobile sites and applications. Our research demonstrates that retailers are very slowly getting to grips with mobile, but are in grave danger of failing to meet customers’ expectations as mobile transactions become more and more acceptable. Some retailers have gone down the ‘app for app’s sake’ route, which instantly narrows the opportunity they have to engage with customers on a long-term basis. In a competitive market, a robust, multi-channel marketing strategy can help retailers to revolutionise results – attracting new customers and fostering loyalty to generate repeat business. Simply paying lip service to mobile will increasingly alienate a retailer from its customers, as they become increasingly savvy mobile users.”
2ergo’s findings form part of a research report called Mobilising Retail, which is available to download from the company. It looks at the perception gap between the actions of retailers and the mobile habits of their customers.
| We spoke to Colin McCaffery in July about the challenges of mobile app development, including 2ergo's pioneering work on the Pizza Express app. You can listen to the full interview on our website, via iTunes or by downloading the MP3 file. |