Since mobile and tablet commerce are burgeoning forms of technology poised to become a larger part of the retail landscape this year, it might be helpful for merchants to receive some tips from an industry expert.
Whether a merchant has started using mobile or tablet commerce or is considering it, Joan Abrams, director of ecommerce for gifts merchant Ross-Simons, offers some tips to keep in mind.
For mobile devices, non-tablet:
Focus on navigation. Make it easy for users to navigate to your most important categories.
Eliminate non-essentials. Ease of use is key.
Edit your merchandise assortment so search results are reasonable.
Make the search box very prominent.
For tablets:
Develop all new functionality to work on the tablet.
Remove sliders, hovers and anything that doesn’t work on a tablet from your desktop site.
Make sure your navigation links and buttons have enough space to tap using a finger on a tablet. It’s less precise than a mouse.
For both:
Make sure your IT, marketing and customer service staffs have mobile devices to fully understand the customer experience.
Create a benchmark of your mobile/tablet analytics now so you can compare post-launch.
If you’re not sure if your customers are on mobile devices, see how many of them are opening their emails on mobile devices.
If you’re waiting to see if mobile/tablets take off, don’t wait. They are.
Test EVERYTHING.
Jim Tierney ([email protected]) is a senior writer for Multichannel Merchant. You can connect with him on Twitter (TierneyMCM) and LinkedIn, or call him at 203-358-4265.