Understanding the various ways consumers were shopping on their mobile devices led to success on Cyber Weekend for eBags.
eBags co-founder and executive vice president Peter Cobb said eBags is looking at ways to attract people to its site, getting them to convert and having a compelling experience away from the traditional pinch, zoom and scroll.
[Related: eBags Sees Cyber Weekend Success]
The company saw its mobile traffic nearly double, growing 92% over the weekend, with mobile sales up 80%. Overall traffic across channels grew 40%.
Cobb said when mobile was 10% of the traffic a couple of years ago, it didn’t warrant investing the resources in mobile. Now for the first time, he said, mobile has outpaced desktop.
“This holiday we really nailed it from that regard,” said Cobb.
Cobb said one of the ways eBags enhanced the shopping experience was by bringing its five key products forward rather than hiding them from shoppers.
“Instead of making them work through the store, we brought them forward,” Cobb said. “As soon as you walk through the door they’re there, both on mobile, PC and tablet. We call that ‘play the hit’ whether it’s social, PC, mobile, website or email – give them the product they expect to see.”
Cobb said the company also added 41% more SKUs this holiday season. eBags’ travel products are part of the overall growth as well. Popular accessory items like Amazon Kindle, Bose headphones and Google Nest were some of the products added.
Cobb said it’s important to execute for both mobile and the desktop when showing your products. eBags did a lot of A/B testing to make sure its site was optimized on mobile, desktop and tablet.
eBags also realized that shoppers want new products and deals. eBags worked with the 950 brands on the site and created “Steals and Deals.” It allows the brands to take slow moving items from their distribution center at a discounted price.
Cobb said future plans include adding Apple Pay, as a mobile conversion enhancement. As mobile traffic is increasing 80% to 90%, eBags is looking for ways to enhance the experience by tying in technology to make travel easy and optimized. An example of this is the connected luggage tag that shoppers can purchase. Shoppers can download the eBags app, register their purchased luggage tag, set up the privacy settings and attach the tag to their luggage bag.
If a bag is lost or left behind, the person who finds it can use a QR code reader or NFC chip or follow the printed URL on the tag using a smart phone to notify the owner.
Daniela Forte is Multichannel Merchant’s Content Manager