The Gilt Groupe provides instant insider access to today’s top designer labels, at up to 60% off retail. In this article their Vice President of Mobile speaks about how much business they do from mobile. If you haven't adapted your website so it can be seen properly on mobile phones and people can buy from it then you ar elosing a lot of business. Check out how you can get it done NOW by clicking HERE
Gilt’s Device-Agnostic Strategy Powers Mobile Growth
DECEMBER 23, 2011
Yon Feldman
Vice President, Mobile & Global Engineering
Gilt Groupe
eMarketer: What percentage of Gilt’s sales come from mobile phone users, excluding tablets?
Yon Feldman: We tend to see about 10% coming from mobile, not including tablets. It’s another 5% that’s coming from tablets. So it’s about 15% in total coming from mobile devices and it goes as high as 25%.
eMarketer: When do you tend to see spikes in terms of mobile sales on Gilt?
Feldman: On weekends, when people aren’t at their office computers. Because our sales are timed, we get a bump every time people aren’t at their computers. Mobile sales can come on the weekends, when people are in parks or out having brunch or things like that.
“With tablets, we see sales spikes at night, when people are kind of lounging about, laying in bed or on the sofa, leisurely perusing Gilt.”
Plus, mobile ties into the normal spike of the Gilt business. So every day at noon, there’s a huge spike. Then we see different spikes depending on the platform. With tablets, we see sales spikes at night when people are kind of lounging about, laying in bed or on the sofa, leisurely perusing Gilt.
eMarketer: What is it about your business model that makes it ideal for mobile shopping?
eMarketer: The whole flash-sale business is ideal for mobile shopping, because you have access no matter where you are. It’s one of the reasons we see such strong members and mobile revenues.
eMarketer: Are there some features that you’d like to introduce to make mobile shopping even easier?
Feldman: Absolutely. We’re always looking to offer consumers more of a competitive advantage, because when people come onto Gilt, it’s like a sport. They’re competing for products. It’s really exciting, but it could be nerve-wracking as well.
We’re working on making it easier to browse what you’re interested in without looking at everything. We’re looking to filter products by your particular sizes, so you don’t have to waste time looking at products that aren’t even available in your size. We’re making search and filtering functionality faster. I like to call it “flattening the experience”—you don’t have to dive into a sale, a list of products or a product details page and see if the item is available in your size, try to add it to cart and then notice it’s already been reserved by somebody else. We want to make it easier to get in and get out.
“A lot of mobile devices are difficult to shop on because the screens are small, but we can still try to give customers more information and control and to make things faster.”
With mobile screens, we want customers to really get a feel for what the fabric and the buttons are like on an item and to give them all the tools they need to make a purchasing decision. A lot of mobile devices are difficult to shop on because the screens are small, but we can still try to give customers more information and control and to make things faster.
eMarketer: Are there any specific features of your mobile offering that customers are finding particularly useful or that they appreciate?
Feldman: With the tablet and the iPad app, the experience is really speedy and flat. On one screen, you can essentially do everything from looking at the different views of a product—the front, back, the details—directly from the cart. You can tap and hold to drag items directly to your cart.
Our customers appreciate that we make the process speedy because they are competing against other people. They can get in and out in 3 minutes. They appreciate our push notifications that come at noon, when our sales start.
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And still Irish retailers do not have their websites mobilised
despite all ths stats that indicate that they are losing business
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Google: Mobile Retail Searches Continue Rapid Growth
Posted: 17 Oct 2011
 Mobile searches of the retail variety are ballooning at a rapid pace, according to a new report.
According to the BRC/Google Online Retail Monitor, “total retail search volumes grew at their fast rate this year increasing by 35% in the third quarter compared with the same quarter a year earlier.”
“Mounting pressures on household budgets may be generating more online retail searches as people work harder to compare prices and track down value,” says Stephen Robertson, British Retail Consortium Director General. “While searches grew 35 percent, their fastest this year, the BRC’s Retail Sales Monitor show growth in online spending has actually slowed to 10 percent suggesting extra searches are a symptom of bargain hunting.”
Mobile search volumes have increased 168% year-over-year.
“Retail searches on desktop rose by 35% y/y in q3,” adds Peter Fitzgerald, Retail Director for Google.
“Home and Garden saw strong growth in July, while it was back-to-school searches which fueled the August increase, with Consumer Electronics in particular seeing phenomenal growth in tablet’ searches,” Fitzgerald adds.
“September also saw an uplift, as Christmas gift related searches began to appear. This is unsurprising given that many consumers are Christmas shopping earlier this year, in order to spread the cost and avoid disruption due to bad weather. International searches for UK retailers also saw a massive uplift last quarter, as countries already originating large volumes of searches such as Russia, Pakistan and Mexico saw increases of between 90% and 300% y/y,” he concluded.
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"With the majority of large retailers in the UK choosing to capitalise on the mobile commerce channel, those who have been left behind are now scrabbling to catch up"
Its unbelieveable the fact that none of Ireland's large retailers have mobilised their sites yet!
--- For about €2000 a fully functional mobile website like www.republic.co.uk can be created yet Ireland's retailers can't seem to leave social marketing and do mobile marketing.
Are you a retailer? Get a quote HERE
Embracing Mobile Commerce in 2011
Posted: 14 Oct 2011
The following is a guest post James Bentham on behalf of Mobile Interactive Group.
With the majority of large retailers in the UK choosing to capitalise on the mobile commerce channel, those who have been left behind are now scrabbling to catch up. Still in its relative infancy, mCommerce has developed quickly throughout 2011 and shows no signs of slowing. The brands who have benefitted most were the ones not afraid to innovate and take some risks.
Amazon and eBay both set up strong mobile presences during 2010 and both have seen huge returns, forging a path for other brands to follow. Amazon optimised their site for mobile phones as well as offering apps for the iPhone and Android operating systems in various territories. They were one of the first to introduce cross platform accounts, with users able to add products to their basket via their mobile phone and then purchase them next time they log in on a computer. eBay’s app enabled both buying and selling processes to take place via a mobile and, via a highly effective user interface, made the application a pleasure to use. This produced some massive sales through their mobile channel, including that of a Lamborghini for $350,000 and a yacht for £150,000.
So what has brought about this necessity for retailers to move into mobile commerce? comScore research states that 10% of women and 17.9% of men in the age group 13 to 44 have attempted to access an online retailer via their mobile. Another survey from YouGov revealed that 25% of consumers said that if they couldn’t access a retailer’s site on their mobile, they would go to a competitor and not try to access that site again.
mCommerce is forecast to grow to over $100bn per annum by 2015, particularly in the UK and Europe which appears to be catching and will likely overtake the US in terms of usage. Mobile transactions are predicted to have jumped from $170 billion in 2010 to $630 billion by 2014. There are plenty of other indicators to indicate now is the time for retailers to go mobile too. Ocado now receives 5% of its orders through its mobile app and US Pizza Hut generated more than $1m just from its first 3 months.
Now mobile commerce has fledged, it is important for any retailer to ensure they have a website that is optimised for mobiles, but not at the expense of application development. The main stumbling block for retailers is getting their eCommerce system properly integrated with their front end mobile app or site. In order to provide the best customer experience, more brands are opting for complete systems that deliver APIs for their products, account managements and dealing with transactions.
The act of downloading an app in itself is a positive movement by the customer to interact with a brand and is worth much more than simply bookmarking a mobile site. Once downloaded, the app becomes a feature of the users mobile and they will be much more likely to return and browse on a regular basis, particularly if the user interface has been uniquely designed.
This aspect of mCommerce is continually changing and new web standards in HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript are allowing more creative options for designing interfaces and a more exciting user experience. These developments, coupled with the explosion of touch screen smart phones throughout 2011, have brought with them features including drag and drop, inline video, 360oproduct view as well as live data entry validation.
Going forward, eBay has just released information about a new mobile photo feature, where users can take pictures of products they like the look of and the app will suggest similar products available on the site. Innovations such as this are revolutionising the way people shop and unifying in store, online and mobile retailing experiences.
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Mobile Shopping More Popular Than Online Shopping
A recent study of UK shoppers has found that consumers now prefer shopping via their mobile device rather than over the PC internet. And the difference is very strong: for users aged 25 to 35, mobile is preferred 3 to 1 over regular online!
The study - conducted by mobile advertising network
InMobi - was based on information from 2,500 mobile users. It found that less than half of consumers still prefer shopping on the high street (42%) but that nearly a third (30%) now preferred shopping on their mobile device rather than online (28%).
The degree of preference is varies greatly with age. Consumers over 45 still prefer online, but those younger than 45 have a strong preference for mobile.
Research shows that a sizeable 16 million UK consumers of the total 61 million population - about one in four - currently shop on their mobile phone. InMobi also found that revenues from mobile shopping doubled in 2010 to £275m from £123m, with they predict that this figure will skyrocket to around £1bn in 2011.
The study also investigated what sort of products are being purchased over mobile. Not surprisingly mobile content and games was the largest category, but several other categoreis including Travel, Apparel, and Electronics were very sizable as well.
James Lamberti, VP Global Research & Marketing at InMobi, commented, ”Mobile shopping is already commonplace with one in four Brits influenced by or purchasing goods from their mobile devices. The clear consumer acceptance has opened huge opportunities in the world of mobile advertising.”
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How Moms Keep Connected Using Smartphones
APRIL 2011
Moms with smartphones spend over 6 hours a day using mobile
With the benefit of smartphones and the mobile internet, many moms are now running their households on the go, relying on technology to keep them organized and connected wherever their busy lives take them.
Smartphone ownership is higher among moms than the general population, according to March 2011 research from parenting website BabyCenter. Nearly six in 10 moms have a smartphone, vs. 50% of all internet users. Overall, 62% of mom respondents told BabyCenter they use the mobile internet regularly, up from 22% just two years ago.
Moms use their smartphones for somewhat different purposes than the general population, according to the survey. Mothers were significantly more likely to access games, social media and health information, and somewhat more likely to check the weather, listen to music or shop via mobile. They underindexed on accessing content like maps, productivity tools, and financial and business information, suggesting they’re sticking to activities to help—or help occupy—their families.
Activities like these lead smartphone-owning moms to spend an average of 6.1 hours a day with their phone, compared to 2.5 hours among moms with only a feature phone. And with so much time spent on advanced mobile content activities, mom smartphone users are bound to view advertising.
BabyCenter reported that smartphone-owning moms considered ads with coupons (55%) or that featured nearby deals (34%) most appealing, and they were significantly more likely than the general population to do so.
Just over half of mothers who had smartphones said they had followed up a mobile ad they saw by doing more research later (52%) or talked about the ad with someone else (51%). Other actions, like clicking on the ad (31%) or purchasing the product later online (14%), were still minority activities, but moms’ higher likelihood of indirect action suggests even unclicked mobile ads are resonating with them to some extent.
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Best Practices for Mobile Retail Strategy
FEBRUARY 7, 2011
Efforts should address each stage of the purchase funnel
Mobile devices accompany consumers everywhere throughout a busy day. Through mobile initiatives, retailers have unique opportunities to engage with consumers as they move through each purchase phase—whether they’re in a store, in transit, at work or at home.
Data from InsightExpress showed that during the holiday 2010 season, smartphone owners used their devices at different stages of the purchase funnel: to receive sale alerts (awareness), look for better prices and product reviews (consideration) and redeem coupons (conversion). This gives retailers many opportunities to connect with consumers and encourage purchase and loyalty.
“Forward-thinking retailers are devising mobile strategies to address each stage in the consumer purchase funnel—awareness, engagement, consideration, conversion and loyalty,” said Tobi Elkin, eMarketer writer/analyst and author of the new report “Mobile Web: Best Practices for Retailers.”
For example, retailers use mobile to aid in the awareness stage, enabling consumers to research and learn about products via apps and mobile websites. They can facilitate engagement via the mobile channel through targeted coupons and special offers as well as invitations to opt in to sweepstakes and contests. And retailers drive consideration via mobile by offering complete access to product ratings and reviews, promoting free trials or samples and links to social media feeds so that consumers can see what friends have to say about potential purchases.
For many retailers, mobile remains a work in progress. Among US retailers polled in the fall of 2010, 60.7% reported planning to beef up their existing mobile web presence or app.
“Nearly 40% of those polled said they planned to launch more apps and sites or test various mobile initiatives,” said Elkin. “It’s clear that retailers need to do more than dip a toe in the mobile waters.”
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Mobile as Critical In-Store Conduit
JANUARY 7, 2011
