Retailers must improve m-commerce sites or continue to lose sales

Monday, January 20, 2014 - 10:00 by Graham Miller

British retailers which offer people the chance to buy products using safe shopping online need to wake up to the benefits of an optimised mobile site which is fast and easy to use, according to a new report published this month by Jumio.

Analysts estimate that up to £1.5 billion in potential sales were missed during the Christmas shopping period because of inadequate m-commerce experiences being offered by many companies, some of which have a particularly high profile in the UK.

With a growing number of people choosing to shop using smartphones and tablets, there is certainly a need to tailor the online experience to meet their needs. But consumers are being turned off the idea of m-commerce because of sites which take an age to load over a mobile connection.

People also complain of the payment process when using a smartphone or tablet to do their shopping online, because there is demand for immediacy and, yet, often the experience can be hampered by a convoluted sign-up scheme or generally unacceptable performance.

Jumio spokesperson, Daniel Mattes, said that while retailers are doing well when it comes to launching dedicated mobile apps, there is still a need to address the browser-based m-commerce experience, which is where the biggest issues lie.

Mattes points out that the £1.5 billion in lost sales that retailers are likely to have suffered because of performance and payment problems in the mobile realm should not be seen as a one-off. This is because consumers' opinions are formulated when first using a site and future sales could be reduced if improvements are not made.

Brits are very demanding when it comes to retail and this is particularly true online, so getting the m-commerce industry into shape in 2014 is essential.