Mobile commerce is being lauded as the next big thing for e-commerce businesses. Many are already taking full advantage of this new opportunity, but according to latest research a large numbers of consumers are still left underwhelmed by mobile presence of many shops.
The EPiServer study, 'Developing a mobile strategy: how to deliver mobile sites that truly engage', paints quite a gloomy picture of m-commerce. A staggering 49% of responding consumers said that they are often left frustrated when shopping online. People cite difficulty in navigation through websites as one of the major problems. It causes a third of them to abandon such a web shop completely, which is a huge proportion.
Other difficulties shoppers experience include slow loading time of websites, difficulty logging in and trouble finding what they are looking for.
What should really make online retailers think long and hard about improving their mobile presence is the fact that consumers who find one website hard to use will very often go to their competitors' shop as a result.
Having a mobile version of a website is not enough. Consumers are often left disappointed with the experience of such sites. What retailers need to think about is what mobile shoppers require and try to deliver it in a simple package. Large buttons, which can be easily clicked with a finger are recommended over small icons and an extremely simplified menu should be aimed for every time.
The worst thing is to try and fit everything from a regular website into the mobile version. Quite often it is better to start from scratch when building a mobile website, rather than trying to copy the PC version. The same goes for apps.
It seems like many retailers have been caught by surprise by the sheer numbers of shoppers wishing to browse and make purchases on devices with varying screen sizes. It is crucial that they adjust to this change in the market not by cutting corners but by carefully designing a product to help them capitalise on this opportunity.
Eva works for PayPoint.net - Online Payment Solutions