Debenhams offers best m-commerce experience according to study

Monday, April 22, 2013 - 10:19 by Graham Miller

A report into the state of the customer experience offered by a variety of major retailers via mobile devices, has found that Debenhams is the current king of accessibility.

EPiServer revealed the results of its study last week, which also praised the m-commerce offerings from Argos and Expedia, according to InternetRetailing.

The rise in the number of consumers carrying out safe shopping online from a smartphone or tablet has caused retailers to scramble ahead in their development of mobile-optimised websites and applications that make this easier to achieve.

A total of 30 major retailers were examined as part of the study, with the average satisfaction score found to be 55%, which is up from 47% in the previous report.

Interestingly, it was discovered by researchers that many of the UK's leading retailers are choosing to emphasise mobile websites rather than developing standalone apps.

This goes along with advice from many industry experts, who believe that consumers prefer to be able to carry out safe shopping online from within their smartphone's web browser, rather than having to fire up a separate app to get the job done.

Less than a fifth of the retailers covered by the study do not have a mobile optimised website, which is down from 30 per cent in 2011.

The ascent of Debenhams in the latest study is impressive, as it has managed to take over the top spot from Argos, which is now tied for second place with Expedia.

Amazon and Tesco share equal ground in fourth place and the top 10 includes other retailers, such as ASOS, John Lewis and ASDA.

It seems that high street retailers that manage to get m-commerce right can be in with a chance of outshining online-only retailers, which bodes well for their future.