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Top businesses failing to take m-commerce seriously

Tuesday, January 8, 2013 - 11:20 by Graham Miller

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A study has found that the vast majority of the biggest companies in the UK are actually making a mess of things when it comes to m-commerce.

Although about 70 per cent of mobile users now own a smartphone, with at least half of this group using their portable device to carry out safe shopping online, 99 out of the FTSE 100 firms which were analysed by an Incentivated report, were discovered to have a mobile strategy that is simply inadequate.

Interestingly, it is the British companies that are behind the curve when it comes to m-commerce, with their American counterparts quickly adapting to consumer spending habits and thus investing money in improving the mobile shopping experience.

The study looked at the various mobile optimised sites being offered by major companies and took measurements across a variety of criteria, including page size, load speed and intuitiveness of interface.

All of these things will make an impact on whether or not a consumer decides to carry out safe shopping online with a major brand. Even if the site itself is not designed with transactions in mind, a poorly optimised mobile web page will give potential customers a bad impression and have a negative impact on a company's reputation.

Twenty two of the FTSE 100 companies are in possession of a low scoring mobile site, while eight of them received acceptable marks. The remainder did not have any kind of mobile optimised web presence.

It was Marks & Spencer which came out on top, since it was the only company which got a mark of four out of five, when scrutinised by the independent analysts.

This suggests that at least one of the UK's biggest retailers has got onboard with the m-commerce market and decided to adapt accordingly.