Storm Trading sell packaging supplies and having a mobile website has become increasingly important. Today they share their experience of launching a mobile optimised version of their website:
Mobile devices are now seemingly tied into the everyday lives of most of us and, with smartphone’s now accounting for more than 60% of phone sales in the UK, this trend is only going to continue. With more people having access to the internet on the move, it has become commonplace for businesses to have a mobile specific presence in order to provide customers with a better user experience.
With this in mind, Storm Trading has recently taken advantage of the opportunity to have an m-commerce version of their site created via ekmPowershop, their online platform provider. We have spoken with Storm Trading Digital Marketing Manager, Chris Roche to gain some insight into the difference the mobile site has made to them;
We had been looking to get a mobile version of the Storm site created for over 12 months but were not able to integrate one with our ecommerce platform and the functionality was not available within it either. When it did become available we were quick to jump on board to improve our mobile traffic performance.
Prior to the launch of the mobile site, traffic from mobile visitors to the site had not performed as well as the regular site visitors. The main reason behind this variance was in the layout of the main site, with a lot of navigation options and different offer boxes this didn’t transfer across well to mobile. We had been looking to simplify everything to give mobile users a much clearer route to purchase. The mobile platform template provided by ekmPowershop comes free of charge with our account, which means that it doesn’t quite have the as much functionality as we would have liked but we have already seen improvements in performance since the end of March launch.
In the 3 months leading up to the mobile site, conversion rates for mobile traffic struggled to exceed 5%, compared to around 12% for regular traffic. However since launching we have seen the rate improve to just under 8.5%. Coupled with the fact that the average order value has increased by 15% and the per visitor value has gone up by 82%, we are really starting to see the benefit to a more mobile friendly website.
We are hoping to be able to make further improvements to the mobile side of the site as ekmPowershop release updates and these should only help us further increase our sales from these visitors. For any ecommerce shop owner who hasn’t yet progressed into the mobile world, we would highly recommend giving it good consideration. If done correctly you can be reaping the rewards of giving your mobile customers a much better experience.
