Comment: Retailers must prioritise mobile to meet customer demand

Mobile as a term has changed in meaning significantly over the last few years and now dominates the online retail market.

A staggering 52% of traffic to UK retail websites is now coming via smartphones and tablet devices. With the advent of the smartphone and generous data packages from the network providers, mobile device usage has become more about digital interactions than talking and texting, while it is the advent of the tablet that has really led to the concept of mobile devices.

On the retail side, brands have actually been quicker at adopting a mobile-optimised website than launching a digital presence in the first place; a true indication that the pace of change is accelerating.

In a recent IMRG survey, 66% of respondents have a mobile-optimised website. Interestingly, the same study also showed that a higher proportion of high street and multichannel retailers have a mobile-optimised website (74%), compared with 53% of online-only or catalogue merchants.

Considering that as recently as 2010 mobile visits to e-retail sites accounted for less than 3% of traffic, this latest milestone represents staggering growth of 2,000% over the past four years. With an estimated 12 million tablet devices sold in the UK alone last year, and 80% of UK consumers now owning a smartphone, it is not surprising that we have seen mobile commerce reach this tipping point.

The exponential growth mirrors early e-commerce development. Whilst the early days of any measurement activity show high levels of growth, the physical characteristics of this sector really do reflect the rapid pace of change that mobile devices are enabling.

Inevitably, we are now seeing an overall slowdown in m-retail as growth comes off a higher base. However, with an increasing number of consumers now using their mobile devices to browse and compare products while in-store, there is no doubt mobile will continue to be an integral part of retailers’ multichannel strategies.

And now that people are primarily using their smartphones and tablets to view retail websites, it goes without saying that mobile optimisation is an incredibly-important consideration for all UK retailers with an online proposition.

Inevitably, we are now seeing an overall slowdown in m-retail as growth comes off a higher base. However, with an increasing number of consumers now using their mobile devices to browse and compare products while in-store, there is no doubt mobile will continue to be an integral part of retailers’ multichannel strategies.

Mobile is now a mass communications medium with commercial benefit.

• Andrew McClelland is chief policy and operations officer at IMRG