New Look enters m-commerce market

Thursday, April 7, 2011 - 16:14 by Sarah Collinson

Fans of high street fashion chain New Look will be pleased to hear that it is creating a portal for safe shopping online, which is designed specifically to be accessed from mobile phones.

The retailer already has a website which lets customers buy the same clothes and accessories online as they can in store, but, up until this week, it has not had an m-commerce site which is optimised for smartphone users.

New Look will allow customers to make purchases from their mobiles and it has been made particularly simple to buy the item you desire, thanks to one-click payments.

Mobile sites are becoming a key focus for many retailers, with New Look following in the footsteps of contemporaries including John Lewis and House of Fraser.

New Look's Dom McBrien, said that since studies have indicated that within two years more people will be heading online via their mobiles than on desktop computers, it makes sense to invest in platforms which will service smartphone users.

Mr McBrien said that as well as allowing users to carry out safe shopping online just like they would on their PC, the New Look site for mobiles features high res product images, which can be zoomed into easily using a portable device, so that consumers can get a good look at what they are buying.

It is interesting to note that New Look has not opted to launch its m-commerce service via a dedicated smartphone app, which has been a route taken by some of its rivals. There are a few major benefits to creating a mobile optimised site, the main one being that it is not tied down to a specific smartphone platform, as can be the bane of apps which might be limited to use by iPhone or Android users.