Editorial Articles

By 2013 the amount of purchases made from mobile phones will have doubled according to recent Ovum and Verdict Research. This research comes amidst the usual excited cries from industry players declaring that finally we have reached the elusive ‘year of the mobile’. To be honest, I’d rather make a slightly more reserved prediction. Yes, mobile retailing certainly has the potential to explode and consumers have shown that they are more than ready to tap in to any new technology which makes shopping easier, however it is my feeling that retailers just aren’t doing enough at the moment to facilitate a mainstream move towards mobile retailing. In fact, our annual 2010 mCommerce Report shows that the vast majority of brands and retailers actually face the serious risk of losing sales to their competition, as a result of providing mobile services which are below par in comparison to customers’ expectations. 

We’ve all been there, sat on a computer trying to buy something online and becoming increasingly frustrated with a slow, badly designed and difficult to use website. For those of you who haven’t tried it on a phone yet, trust me, it’s much worse when coupled with a small screen, a tiny key pad. This was reflected clearly in our research, when we asked which aspects of their mCommerce experience customers found to be most irritating the responses were usability gripes. Coming top was the hassle of having to continually zoom in and out of a webpage to view all of the information and images (47%). The second most irritating issue given was slow loading times (43%) and being unable to see images, video or hear audio (39%).

Retailers losing sales as customer loyalty wains on mobile
From a UK retailing industry which is currently leading in European eCommerce, why are we going so slowly with mobile? Currently, only 4% of UK consumers would call their mobile shopping experiences ‘hassle free’. If we are going to reach this ‘year of mobile’ any time soon, this is simply not good enough. Even with smartphone owners, only 15 per cent of consumers find purchasing using their phone hassle free with many finding it positively difficult and time consuming.

Consumers just don’t have the same level of brand loyalty when it comes to mobile sites and they can be very unforgiving. Retailers are at a serious risk of customer churn and losing out on sales to competitors who have a more coherent mCommerce strategy. Worryingly, only one in ten shoppers would try to reload a page more than once, if they were having problems viewing it on their mobile and most would either give the site one more go and then leave it (25%) or never try and access it again (25%).

The issue is that most retailers currently don’t prioritise retailing technology, assuming that, as long as the eCommerce platform is sorted, customers will be able to easily access the internet page from their mobile phone. Anyone who’s tried knows that it is not as easy as it sounds - web pages are designed for customers to access them on a computer sized screen, with the use of a keyboard. The solution, for retailers is to develop a specific mobile optimised browser (similar to the one recently launched by Marks and Spencer).

The trend at the moment is for retailers to develop smartphone apps – and two thirds (63%) of smartphone users download apps – although only a quarter (26%) of smartphone owners have actually purchased products through an app. It is also worth considering the actual amount of smartphone owners in the UK – the number is very small in retailing terms. About 15 per cent according to recent Nielson research. Apps may be more fashionable and high-tech, yet what retailers really should be doing is considering the large number of individuals who don’t own smartphones and thinking about how to make the mobile retailing experience easier for them.

Flash equals crash
One reason why slow loading times play such a big part in the frustrations of mobile shoppers could be that some retailers are actually trying to do too much. Flashy websites, heavy in rich media naturally take longer to load and for mobile users in areas with low signal this can be especially irritating. To make their mCommerce platform a success, what retailers really need to do is make it as simple as possible. Customers want information and product imagery delivered in an easy to view format – a simple click and buy functionality works best. Similarly, developers need to be aware of the appropriateness of supplying information on a mobile site, so that consumers don’t have to zoom in and out to get the information they need. The Trainline do this particularly well – there are no images (but why would you need them when checking a train time anyway?), just comprehensive train times which are easy to access and quick to download.

Ultimately, mobile retailing could be massively improved with the development of specific mCommerce sites, optimised with the correct imagery and data to enable consumers to access the products they want to purchase in an easy and efficient way. However, until then it is likely that mobile will continue to be used by consumers for more basic functions like rating products and reading customer reviews. Until retailers begin to prioritise the importance of their mobile commerce platforms and improve usability, it is doubtful that the Ovum and Verdict predictions will be realised.

Rob Tarrant
Managing Director, Brandbank