Mobile Strategy: Six Steps for Getting Started with mCommerce
Despite the growing importance of mobile commerce in the UK retail industry, there remains a clear discrepancy between what consumers want and what retailers offer.
Make no mistake: a growing number of consumers are equipping themselves with smart mobile devices, driving change across the retail industry. Myles Chippendale, Lead Technical Analyst at Open Plus Ltd, details six steps businesses should consider before getting bogged down in developing apps and investing in strategies.
1. The Mobile-Optimised Site
For big names like Debenhams, Marks and Spencer, Argos, John Lewis and Asos, having a mobile site has become the norm. Many small to medium sized businesses lag behind here. But the fact is that what is normal for large retailers is quickly becoming normal for consumers. So it is vital for small businesses to catch up. There are several approaches which can be taken to developing a mobile site, like automatic generation of mobile pages under the same URL, having dedicated mobile pages or having a sub-domain for mobile devices.
2. Mobile Strategy for Pure-Play eCommerce
Because the principal advantages of native applications ('apps') apply to in-store sales optimisation, developing an app is often unnecessary for pure-play ecommerce businesses.
3. Measure and Assess Your Mobile Site
Before you go anywhere near developing an app, record and assess the performance of your mobile site. It's important at this stage that you understand customers' behaviour on your own site without becoming fixated on competitors. Access good mobile analytics. You have to dig a little here. Standard 'desktop-centric' analytics will not offer sufficient detail and accuracy to drill down into and understand mobile visits.
4. Native Applications
If you run bricks and mortar stores, your business's app should necessarily be developed in response to your own data, optimised for your business, ultimately allowing smartphones to function as rich application loyalty cards. Key things to consider are incentivising in-store customer visits and sales with a 'check in' facility and loyalty-related offers and fire sale alerts, product rating at samples tables, QR codes with product information, and a dedicated sales channel to free up floor staff. Thinking about a 'mobile wallet' function should also be on the agenda, but listen to your customers first. A hugely important corollary of these functions is the collection of valuable customer data and having the right analytics in place is key to gathering and understand valuable resource.
5. Going Local
SEO is changing dramatically with the mcommerce revolution. If you want to attract footfall from mobile, you've got to think local. That means simple and efficient information with proximity as a major factor. An increasing proportion of retailers' marketing budgets are being spent on local and mobile search strategies. Use your mobile site to optimise locally-focused SEO around your stores, paying particular attention to services like Google Places and Facebook Places.
6. NFC and Contactless Payments
Watch this space. Sooner or later all smartphones will be equipped to handle contactless in-store payments. This kind of technology is currently quite limited in the UK, but be under no illusion, this space is poised for rapid expansion. Even a cursory glance at mcommerce in places like Hong Kong, Japan and Korea reveals a proliferation of contactless payment technologies. This is still an opaque issue in the UK retail industry. It is not clear which technology in the contactless payment space will emerge as the UK leader. The best approach for UK retailers is to continue to closely research your own customers' habits, projecting how they are likely to behave in the future and watching the market carefully. It is likely, however, that investment will be required one way or another.
Don't Panic!
Remember that while mcommerce is quickly changing the face of retail, there is no need to panic. Develop a mobile strategy in stages, staying informed. Listen to your customers. Avoid taking drastic and potentially unnecessary steps in response to the competition. Fundamentally, mobile commerce is an opportunity, not an emergency! Finding the strategy that is right for your business and your customers should be your top priority.
Help from Open Plus
Open Plus Ltd [please link to www.openplus.co.uk] is an ecommerce and multichannel retail systems consultancy offering Strategy, Audit, Systems and Support services. Find out how we can build the systems and teams to enable your business to grow in the mobile market space. Contact us for a free, non-committal systems review.
