Old news, but still interesting to think about (mobile)

InternetAuthor

InternetAuthor

I write.
Mar 3, 2008
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Houston, Texas
www.internetauthor.net
How Mobile Devices Will Shake Up The E-commerce Business - Forbes

Most interesting part (to me, anyhow):

The average e-tailer has done next to nothing to optimize for mobile. A significant number of the companies in the Internet Retailer 500 don’t even have mobile-optimized websites, let alone mobile-optimized shopping experiences. Why is this an issue? Simple: more than 20 percent of all e-commerce shopping sessions are already happening on mobile devices – and that number is growing by 2-3x each year. Over the next 18–36 months, mobile will comprise more than 50 percent of all e-commerce shopping sessions, becoming the primary way people shop online. If that’s not enough to panic e-tailers, consider this: the percentage of shopping sessions that actually convert to a purchase falls by more than 75 percent on mobile without a mobile optimized shopping and purchasing experience. That represents an impending crisis for most e-tailers – a massive consumer behavior shift that will cause many e-tailers to miss earnings – and most aren’t even aware that it is coming.

Not sure of his sources, but Forbes is generally reasonably reliable.
 


I think the purchase process is going to need to be streamlined considerably in order for the mobile e-com numbers to ever climb above 50%. I don't see people typing in lots of info on their phones in order to buy a pair of pants while they are on the bus. I might be wrong, but it seems like one-click purchasing ala Amazon is the way to overcome the cumbersome information exchange that lies at the core of every e-com transaction.
 
I'll keep saying this. The very minimum you should be doing when building a site today is having a responsive design / fluid gird. That is the bare min - costs zero in both time & money, and you already have a mobile version. No brainer.

What you really should be doing is building a small mobile app (specially if it's for an e-commerce store etc.) Just think of it as an extra valuable mailing list. Building apps doesn't have to be long-winded or difficult - frameworks such as Magento build the fucking thing for you ffs!
 
Recently I heard an interview on the radio with two people who have succesful e-commerce shops (bikes and Iphone-gadgets) in my country. They said the problem with mobile is that the payment processing is still too complicated. That people still have to fill in long forms with date-of-birth fields and such, and that's why sales through mobile haven't gone up for them. When that's resolved things will go better for the mobile platform.
 
IceToEskimos said:
I think the purchase process is going to need to be streamlined considerably in order for the mobile e-com numbers to ever climb above 50%. I don't see people typing in lots of info on their phones in order to buy a pair of pants while they are on the bus. I might be wrong, but it seems like one-click purchasing ala Amazon is the way to overcome the cumbersome information exchange that lies at the core of every e-com transaction.
Click to expand...

Autofill FTW. I'm seeing more and more younger friends exclusively surf on their phones and tablets. Some don't even own desktop computers. They're going to need to get their info into your site at some point to be able to log in on return visits to be able to check out quickly, using one click for example. But they're all pretty good at typing on these devices, so it's not a big deal to have them fill out a form. Just be sure that your form is user friendly for the small screen or they might go elsewhere!

The article InternetAuthor posted talks specifically about ecommerce transactions, but it's estimated that at some point this year, maybe around August, that more than 50% of all internet browsing will be done on mobile devices. So even if you're not running an ecommerce business, it would be wise to make your websites mobile friendly.

Every site I make now is mobile friendly. There has been an incredible amount of material written in the last year about making mobile friendly sites. I might recommend starting with these two books...

A Book Apart, Responsive Web Design

A Book Apart, Mobile First

(while you're there, pick up some of their other titles, they are all excellent)

Beyond that, there are a shit ton of HTML/CSS frameworks out there that will provide you with a base that you can work off of...

Bootstrap
HTML5 Boilerplate: The web's most popular front-end template < not responsive out of the box
Initializr - Start an HTML5 Boilerplate project in 15 seconds! < roll your own responsive version of the above, can combine Bootstrap with Boilerplate
Skeleton: Beautiful Boilerplate for Responsive, Mobile-Friendly Development
Golden Grid System
320 and Up ‘tiny screen first’ responsive web design boilerplate
Simple Grid
Less Framework 4
Frameless
The 1140px CSS Grid System · Fluid down to mobile
Responsive Web Design just got Easier with the Responsive Grid System
Responsive Grid System
34 Responsive Grid System
Zen Grids: a responsive grid system built with Compass and Sass
SimpleGrid
Gumby 960 Grid Responsive CSS Framework
Foundation: The Most Advanced Responsive Front-end Framework from ZURB

I could go on, but you get the point. Mobile friendly websites are a pretty big deal and if you don't adapt you will be left behind.
 
Think if it like releasing a pop song. You know that there is a fat market for a dubstep version, but you're content with just releasing the regular three & half minute chart version, even though you've already written the song. In music there's a fair amount of work to do a remix, often writing it again from scratch. Wouldn't it be so much easier if you could write the song and if someone played it back on a "Dubstep player" they'd get the dubstep version without you lifting a finger.

You may, just may, appeal to the dubstep market... provided your song isn't shit of course, but even then...!

For the record - Dubstep is massive in the UK, not sure about USA, but you get what I'm saying.
 
Most phones have full browsers now. I use an auto fill app on my phone. I see these becoming more popular for initial registrations among users.
 
I always wonder who are the people that buy my non-optimized shit on android/ios, it's ridiculous but apparently some people are already treating their cellphones as a way to buy stuff on the net.
 
I doubt it's going to be the 'primary' way people shop online. Yes, I can see growth, but primary? Nah.

You triflin' Bill Ready (lmao.. perfect name for the CEO of a payments processor)

And this guy, the writer, doesn't cite any sources beyond anecdotes.

His company, linked up top:
https://www.braintreepayments.com/

We simplify payments for thousands of online and mobile businesses





He's drumming up business. Ecom shift isn't going to happen that quickly. I'll still be looking into it though.

But he did say 'the next 10 years' so theres some agreement there.
 
productionhead said:
I doubt it's going to be the 'primary' way people shop online. Yes, I can see growth, but primary? Nah.

...

Ecom shift isn't going to happen that quickly. I'll still be looking into it though.

But he did say 'the next 10 years' so theres some agreement there.
Click to expand...

You're foolish to think this way man and it's not difficult to adapt. I currently have 30-40% of visitors to my sites on mobile. Even if the numbers aren't as high as 50%, do you want to risk losing ANY percentage of sales because mobile users couldn't easily use your site?
 
It sucks because I hate mobile. I hate cell phones, I hate texting, I hate looking shit up on my phone, I hate the way people spend so much time on their phones, I REALLY hate people who do FB, twitter, instragram and whatever other shit they do on their phones while out in public, and I hate pretty much everything all of this stuff signifies. I'll be sticking to web apps because I'm pretty much boycotting mobile for the rest of my life ...
 
The problem is the fact that you will have to start keeping peoples data now which means security and lots of PCI compliance issues. If this trend is true then it will be a major headache for smaller e -com operators
 
chigga102 said:
The problem is the fact that you will have to start keeping peoples data now which means security and lots of PCI compliance issues. If this trend is true then it will be a major headache for smaller e -com operators
Click to expand...

add to that a lot of people with legacy / static sites.
 
Fatbat said:
You're foolish to think this way man and it's not difficult to adapt. I currently have 30-40% of visitors to my sites on mobile. Even if the numbers aren't as high as 50%, do you want to risk losing ANY percentage of sales because mobile users couldn't easily use your site?
Click to expand...

Oh, I'm all about mobile opportunity. I just don't see it becoming dominant, but I see it as important.
 
productionhead said:
Oh, I'm all about mobile opportunity. I just don't see it becoming dominant, but I see it as important.
Click to expand...

The bit where I keep banging on about building a small app for your site? The real value in this is not really having a mobile version of a website - it's far greater than that.

Every single person who downloads and installs that app (and that's down to you to convince them to obviously) is someone effectively signing up for you to push adverts at. That's right - PUSH straight to their hand or pocket. With a fucking great big "BUY NOW" button on slapped on it.

You really can't get much quicker from product launch to having a targeted audience with their fingers all poised on a "BUY IT" button.

Of course - this is completely different from a responsive design, and deals only with repeat visitors / subscribers, but you can see where it can lead, and why I think it's a very effective & powerful marketing tool, and something that is so easy and effortless to implement!

The responsive / mobile version of a site should have been a default in your development cycle a long time ago.

My tuppence-worth (again. yawn)
 
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