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These include: • Bango Mobile Analytics • Google Analytics Mobile, which tracks mobile websites, mobile apps and web- enabled mobile devices, including both high-end smartphones and non-Javascript- enabled function phones • Motally • Velocitude Analytics • comScore


Here’s an example, based on a single product m-commerce site, of the kind of data these systems can provide: • 6.30 minutes average time on site • 4.79 average page views • 50 percent new visitors (in other words lots of returning visitors)


• 51 percent are iPhone users that convert at 0.62 percent


• 22 percent are Android users that convert at 0.55 percent


• 13 percent are BlackBerry users that convert at 0 percent


• 8 percent are iPad users that convert at 1.53 percent


Ones to watch There are four other emerging trends to note. First, connecting with consumers. Pokos is pioneering the coupling of brands on mobile apps with social messaging to engage targeted groups of on-the-go consumers in direct conversations through a form of text messaging. Sundrop provides loyalty programmes via text messaging as well as email and other media, while tracking and measuring customer retention and redemption and integrating social media with location-based services. And fashion retailer the GAP’s StyleMixer app lets consumers beam an outfit to their Facebook wall to solicit friends’ reactions. Second, content management in the


mobile environment can get tricky. A company called FatWire specialises in this, with centralised editing on your ecommerce platform of content for all types of mobile sites. FatWire also provides social media and analytics modules.


Third, if you want to develop your


own m-commerce solution, the latest web technologies like HTML5, Cascading StyleSheets3 (CSS3), and Google Webfonts let you design your site to scale and adapt to any device it’s viewed on. CSS3 gives you a set of tools for creating gradients, drop-shadows, and rounded corners without bulky images. After all, m-commerce demands that you be economical and basic with your site. Less is more. And finally, mobile broadband usage


has increased 8,000 percent in the last four years. A smartphone uses 24 times more “spectrum” than a feature phone; tablets 122 times more. There are over ten million tablets now, with more than 80 million expected by 2015.


This is important because it will be a


challenge for everybody: merchant, mobile provider and customer alike. There may be some clever ways devised to compress data transmissions more effectively to cope with the shortage, but with movie streaming competing for its own bandwidth, and new allocations of bandwidth politically difficult to negotiate, this could be the hot topic on everyone’s mind in the very near future.


Mobile success in a nutshell


Tactics Views


Mobile devices offer a unique opportunity to drive additional sales via ecommerce, catalogue and in-store channels as well as via m-commerce. Those retailers who build the right mobile strategy have an opportunity to deliver a compelling and valuable experience that creates new loyal customers and builds deeper customer data. Eric Abensur, chief executive at cloud- based commerce services provider Venda, shares his top three tips for a successful mobile channel.


1. Fast first impressions count We could write an entire design course just about


mobile landing pages. The limited real estate available on a smartphone display creates design challenges unlike any posed by ecommerce sites. The following hints will help convert shoppers to customers in just a few seconds:


Put your brand front and centre of an elegant landing page designed to get customers to the product they want, fast.


Include a banner and link it to a featured product, list of popular items, a sale category, or an online discount or promotion.


Simplify the top level navigation—between five and nine category choices—and think “drill-down”.


2. Keep in sync Be sure that you have inventory. Nothing annoys a


mobile customer more than getting an out-of-stock warning at checkout. Update the mobile data feed as frequently as your stock turnover demands.


3. Turn on in-store Wi-Fi Customers already use mobiles in-store for research.


Ernie Schell is managing director of Marketing Systems Analysis, and consults on systems in the US and the UK.


The huge majority of these complete the purchase in that store. Help them by investing in Wi-Fi and creating shelf-edge QR codes linked to information-rich content. Another reason to do this? How else can you find out what customers actually do in your store?


Visit www.catalog-biz.com for Eric Abensur’s full list of 10 m-commerce tips.


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