ORM | How mobile is changing retail. There's so much talk about the re-invention of retail at the moment, with buzzwords galore – omnichannel, multichannel, showrooming, m-payments, NFC, bricks, clicks, the list goes on…at ORM we thought we'd share our thoughts on what's happening. Technology and devices are forcing an unprecedented ground-up transformation in retail. When we say the ground up, we do mean that. Large developers and Landlords are re-evaluating their approach to stores, choosing to build new types of retail environment, to encourage forward thinking tenants. The physical layout of stores is changing – a research from CBRE shows that 60% of retailers expect that their multichannel strategy will lead to more, rather than less shop space, while most of those questioned said that investment in new, and transforming existing stores, was their priority over the next two years.
How consumers choose to shop is changing, with a multitude of ways to purchase. Make sure your emails are mobile optimised too. ORM | Mobile or responsive? It's all about user experience... In our most recent post we looked at the digital trends expected to make it big in 2013. Among those, the head of Strategy & Insight at ORM highlighted the importance of Design ROI and its impact on digital marketing. There is no doubt that delivering a great user experience will help promote your products and services, but given we are living in an ever-evolving, multi-channel and cross-platform world, good design needs to work on your customers' touchpoint of choice, which today is often mobile first. And so, just as content needs to differentiate from channel to channel (just think about the different tone of voice you use on your website, blog and twitter), the experience you provide needs to work on multiple screen sizes and quality.
And so often clients come to us asking for the best solution to make their content work harder across multiple platforms. There are basically two options when building/redesigning a website: So which way to go? Your audience comes first... ORM | How mobile is shaping your marketing strategy. Lately we have been touching on marketing on LinkedIn and some of the solutions to help you reach your audience in a mobile world. Now it's time to focus on your overall digital strategy. In the last six years we’ve witnessed rapid technological advancements. We’ve seen new operating systems, powerful handsets, faster and cheaper data connections, touch interaction, 35 billion app downloads and more smartphone devices being activated worldwide each day than babies being born.
In our latest whitepaper - How Mobile is Changing Your Marketing Strategy - DOWNLOAD PDF - we look at this ever-evolving channel and the implications mobile will have on our digital marketing strategy. As we mentioned in Five Trends for the Year Ahead, mobile is more than just another channel and the handsets we carry around with us are no longer primarily used to make calls. You only have to take a look around you on your commute, lunch break or any trip to the shop, to realise how heavily we rely on them now. Why a One Web approach is the way for ecommerce.
One Web is a foundational website development principle for tackling today’s diverse, multi-screen world. You may or may not have heard of it yet, but One Web will soon be acknowledged as the only way to build modern and future-proof ecommerce websites. Quietly, but quickly, the landscape is shifting for ecommerce vendors. Meeting customers’ needs was easy when orders were placed exclusively from desktop computers.
Vendors needed one website for a single, broad category of computer. But the world is changing, and fast. Web connections have become embedded into almost every new electronic device – TVs, cameras, cars and more. How does this new multi-screen world work? Let’s say I am searching online for new books to read. I’ll find a few options that I like, Thinking Fast and Slow looks great, just as I arrive at the airport. I also have a friend named Rob who reads a book a week and has tastes similar to mine, so I share some links with him on Facebook to see if he’s read it.
50+ fascinating stats about mobile commerce in the UK. In case you hadn’t noticed, smartphones and tablets are now hugely important for ecommerce both in terms of traffic and conversions. According to Ofcom, smartphone penetration in the UK now stands at 58% while 19% of the population owns a tablet, so websites have no choice but to adapt to accommodate the ensuing changes in consumer behaviour. With this in mind, I thought it would be useful to round up some of the most useful stats and surveys we’ve seen in the past 12 months.
And for more data on m-commerce check out our Internet Statistics Compendium... Mobile traffic boom On average mobiles account for 31% of site traffic in the UK, according to Mobify. One tablets drives the same traffic as four smartphones Data published by Adobe in May last year shows that one tablet generates as many website visits as four smartphones. More than two-third of tablet owners make a purchase on their device every month 44% of smartphone owners admit to 'showrooming' Q. Q. Seven potential downsides from using responsive design. Responsive design is just one of a number of options available for businesses currently devising a mobile strategy, however it is seen by many to be the only sensible long-term option.
For the uninitiated, responsive design allows websites to work from a single set of code that resizes itself to fit whatever screen a particular visitor is using, thereby negating the need for a separate mobile site. We previously investigated the benefits of the technology in our posts looking at why Google loves responsive design and this roundup of 10 brilliant examples of responsive design in ecommerce.
But as with any new technology there are also potential downsides that businesses need to consider. I should note at this point that I am an advocate of responsive design, so this is meant to be a point of discussion rather than a backwards-thinking attack on a new method of design. 1. Responsive design uses a single set of code so mobile users have to download the same amount of content as a desktop user. Which of the top 20 UK online retailers use responsive design? Responsive design is a hot topic in web design at the moment, as it allows site owners to tailor content to any sized screen from a single set of code - which is obviously very useful as the mobile web continues to grow in popularity.
Yet it’s still quite difficult to find examples of retailers that have embraced the technology. This is particularly true among the top retailers that tend cling to their existing mobile sites and apps rather than going responsive. Though responsive design is an all-encompassing way of building your site rather than a mobile strategy per se, for the purposes of this post I thought it would be interesting to look at which of the top 20 UK retailers use responsive design compared to those who have a separate mobile site. Here’s what I found out... Amazon.co.uk Amazon ranks alongside eBay as one of the brands that is ahead of the competition in terms of mobile commerce, and I’ve previously highlighted 12 reasons behind its huge success.
Argos Apple Tesco Next Play.com. Mobile Content Marketing Strategies. Mobile is changing our behaviour. And the message from a recent mobile marketing event, hosted by ORM London was, adapt to this change or be left behind. The headline figures: who owns a smartphone (currently 54% of the UK), tablet (21% of the UK) and what they do on these devices (28% surf the net) changes from week to week.
The latest in this rapid stream of stats is that more smartphone devices are being activated everyday worldwide than babies being born. Mobile usage is big and it’s set to be even bigger. Twitter's latest report highlights how smartphone and tablet users are the most engaged consumers. Mobile users are 96% more likely to follow 11 or more brands and 58% more likely to recall seeing an ad on Twitter.
Google even predicts in three years mobile will overtake desktop as the most common way to go online – making mobile marketing more important. This infographic shows why this trend will happen. An example of this is Domino’s Pizza. Here are eight tips on what to do next: Asda's 2nd Gen Mobile Site Reviewed. Last year, David Moth reviewed Asda's mobile site, and was critical of a few aspects of the site. It has since been updated so, in the interests of fairness, I decided to revisit the site to see how well Asda is adapting to the enormous opportunities that mobile provides...
Problems with the original version of the site Our previous criticisms were: A busy homepage and pop ups suggesting you download the app. Upfront registration before grocery shopping. The site wasn't upfront about minimum order thresholds. Forced registration before checkout. I'll review these issues, as well as taking a look at the Asda mobile app for iPhone. Homepage Here's the old, busy homepage: And the new version: The new version is an improvement, and allows visitors to instantly see the various sections of the site, as well as a prominent store locator tool for customers on the move.
Grocery site This upfront registration is the convention for grocery sites, and it does make a certain amount of sense. Minimum order.