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With M&S online sales growing by 48% in the first quarter of 2010, on top of a 32% increase in the months leading to Christmas, M&S have launched a dedicated mobile website. This enables shoppers to access and order more than 24,000 products including clothing, home and furniture, technology and gifting. The website, which M&S claims is the first mobile site from a major UK retailer, is characteristically different from most recent retailer announcements concerning mobile marketing and commerce. Whereas the headlines have recently been full of retailers announcing initiatives on the iPhone which requires a specific app, this M&S website can be accessed by any web-enabled mobile. Customers can log into their web-account to manage shopping baskets from their mobile as well as access most of the standard functionality found on the main M&S website. The M&S move is supported by a recent report from the Aberdeen group. This suggests that while only 24% of all retail organisations surveyed currently utilize a cross-channel customer loyalty platform, 58% plan to implement one in the next twelve to eighteen months. The adoption of a truly integrated cross-channel approach to loyalty is seen as a necessity as customer channel preferences and affinity continue to evolve. Stefan Magnusson, CEO of Mobile Customer Engagement provider Mobilize commented "M&S have signposted the future for mobile as an integrated element within a multichannel approach. Whilst iPhone apps provide an easy and intuitive access to a brand, they can only represent a fraction of UK Mobile owning consumers, therefore Smart apps may well be an interim solution. Over time, interaction via fully-fledged mobile browsers will provide an accessible and ubiquitous mobile engagement channel available to all customers".
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