“Something had to be done to cater to mobile shoppers”. Richard Sejean – Director of e-commerce.

I was recently with a new client who sells men’s clothing, and the first thing I helped them with was to understand their online customers through Google Analytics. To their surprise, not only had they seen a massive increase in mobile and tablet visitors and customers, but the mobile customer was spending at extra 10% than any other customer. This is definitely not an anomaly, this is something we are seeing time and time again and now, its time to finally listen.

The biggest turnoff for mobile shoppers is the difficult Customer Acquisition Journey. This is the step by step process your consumer will go through to the point of purchasing a product. Some online stores will lose sales due to the fact that their website is either archaic or non-responsive, meaning that the journey of purchasing a product is intolerable leading to the customer leaving the website, without purchasing a product. To solve this problem you can either build your website responsive (here is a great example) or build a native mobile app.

The way people purchase goods has changed since the days of going to a store and paying cash for it. Don’t get me wrong, in-store shopping is still leading in sales however, most people will no longer drive hours to a store to find that what they want no longer exists.

Recent statistics show that you save 78% more time shopping online than you do in store along with saving a lot of money in travelling to and from stores. eBay alone, have 300-400 employees working on mobile solutions with reportedly 50% of their sales closing on mobile.

Our mobile devices are becoming a central part of our lives and it should be used as a tool to help shop and pay. With most mobile phones now coming with either 3G, 4G or the ability to connect via wireless, there is no excuse in avoiding the inevitable; Mobile Commerce is the future.

I will be holding a Webinar today on 10 Secrets to a Successful Online Business, where I will discuss in more detail the importance of Mobile Commerce. You can book your free place here. Limited spaces, so be quick.