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The need for greater mobility
We’ve published a few columns and articles this year on the growing importance of mobile commerce, also known as “m-commerce,” in today’s marketplace.
For those that saw that resolution die alongside plans to go to the gym more and spend less, Marciw followed up with a similar column in April in which he cited a number of statistics on the growing usage of smartphones and tablet consumers. While statistics vary from source to source, it is fairly widely agreed that smartphone ownership in the United States has surpassed 50 percent at this point and will continue to climb.
Now there’s yet another indication for jewelers that the time is now to invest in mobile, this one in the form of news from Blue Nile, a continued thorn in the side of engagement ring-selling independents everywhere.
While announcing its first-quarter financial results last week, Blue Nile CEO Harvey Kanter revealed that some 40 percent of site traffic now comes from mobile devices, up from 34 percent in the fourth quarter.
He also admitted that the e-tailer does not do as well as it could in converting these tablet and phone browsers into buyers. But they are working on it. “While it currently is a challenge to convert mobile users at the same rate as those coming to us from a PC, we consider this a great opportunity,” Kanter said during the call.
In the second quarter, Blue Nile will be keying in on improving the mobile experience on its site. One of the changes mentioned specifically by Kanter is the use of “touch-base navigation,” to “bring the brilliance of products closer to customers.”
Blue Nile didn’t respond to my request to elaborate on this statement but when I asked Marciw what this meant, he emailed a long response that he, quite impressively, typed out on his smartphone.
Touch-base navigation basically refers to the fact that when creating a mobile version of a website, designers need to keep in mind that users surfing the site are doing so from touch-screen devices. This, Marciw says, includes a number of considerations, from the placement of search buttons so it’s located near the user’s thumb to the gratuitous use of photos so there’s touch points all over the screen.
He adds that at Fruchtman Marketing, they now are developing one
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“mobile responsive” website for customers instead of two sites, one general and one for mobile.
Personally, I have shopped from my phone before; I have literally laid in bed with my phone on a Saturday morning and ordered shoes online. (I ordered another pair online this weekend but managed to make it to my desk and use my laptop computer to do so.) I would probably do even more shopping on a tablet computer if owned one but I haven’t yet made that purchase for a myriad of reasons, among them being my aforementioned penchant for shoe shopping.
I am not saying here that every jeweler has to sell online--this column is not about e-commerce. I believe that is up to each individual retailer to decide based on their customer base, its demographics and demands. But retailers need to be accessible online and, these days, that includes having a website that loads properly on all the devices that people use.
Personally, I have shopped from my phone before; I have literally laid in bed with my phone on a Saturday morning and ordered shoes online. (I ordered another pair online this weekend but managed to make it to my desk and use my laptop computer to do so.) I would probably do even more shopping on a tablet computer if owned one but I haven’t yet made that purchase for a myriad of reasons, among them being my aforementioned penchant for shoe shopping.
I am not saying here that every jeweler has to sell online--this column is not about e-commerce. I believe that is up to each individual retailer to decide based on their customer base, its demographics and demands. But retailers need to be accessible online and, these days, that includes having a website that loads properly on all the devices that people use.
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