According to the UK Retail Mobile Optimization report by digital commerce firm Skava, nearly a quarter of the UK’s top retailers are still yet to optimise their websites for mobile viewing.
Nearly a quarter of the top 100 retail businesses in the UK do not have mobile ready websites, according to a new study released this month.
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Yes, despite the fact that study after study and article after article is highlighting the importance of optimising websites for mobile devices, twenty four per cent of the country’s leading retailers appear to be ignoring the message. With mobile viewing set to overtake desktop viewing at some point this year, it begs the question why UK retailers are not jumping on the mobile bandwagon?
UK lagging behind the US
Whilst the annual report into retail mobile optimization by Skava found that things have greatly improved since last year, where just fifty per cent of UK retailers had optimised their websites for mobile, the country still lags far behind retailers in the US, where one hundred per cent of the country’s top retailers have mobile-ready websites.
Reluctant to go mobile
Despite the fact that mobile traffic now accounts for twenty per cent of all ecommerce traffic in the UK, many retailers are still arguing against mobile-ready sites being a significant source of revenue. However, last year UK retailer Argos released it’s mobile-ready site and saw a ten per cent increase in ecommerce revenue, generating a whopping four hundred million pounds, showing just how effective mobile websites can be.
UK retailers that fail to provide mobile-ready websites for their customers could experience a great loss in traffic and sales over the next few months. Today users expect to be able to engage with their favourite brands, whether they are sat at home at their desktop computers or on the go using their smartphones. Brands reluctant to go mobile or have been too lazy to build intelligent mobile strategies may find that they are beginning to lose customers to their competitors.
Rather than building a separate mobile website, UK retailers have the option to build responsive web designs instead. These are clever web designs that adjust themselves to the device they are being viewed on.
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Is a mobile site the best option?
Although it is important that websites are mobile-ready, businesses have a number of options when it comes to achieving this. For example, instead of building a mobile version of their website, they could instead invest in a responsive web design. Although generally more expensive than traditional desktop and mobile sites, responsive web designs offer a number of key advantages in terms of flexibility, convenience and even SEO. The wise folks at Google have also stated that responsive web design is considered best practice and it’s always a good idea to follow Google’s guidelines!
More than just a mobile website
Of course it is also worth mentioning that it takes far more than a mobile-ready website to win over customers. UK retailers that are only just going mobile, have a long, long way to go. In order to drive sales from mobile devices, innovative and intelligent mobile strategies need to be created.
Is your retail website mobile friendly? If not, what are you waiting for? Mobile websites are not just an essential for the top one hundred UK retail companies, but SMEs and startups too. Avoid losing customers to your competitors by investing in a responsive web design. For more information or to have a responsive web design built by one of our talented designers, feel free to get in touch today!
Image credits: chrisinplymouth & jiraisurfer
