M&S Wins Big With mCommerce

According to Internet Retailing, UK merchant Marks & Spencer’s mCommerce site has attracted 1.2million visitors since its launch in May, with more than ten million page views and 13,000 orders from the site – including one single order for £3280 – shown in figures from the company and the Mobile Interactive Group (MIG), which consulted on the sites user experience, functionality and design.

The most popular handsets to hit the mCommerce site are iPhones, followed by Android. Types of orders range from clothes and food to widescreen TVs and even furniture – the largest single order through the site so far being £3280 for two sofas.

Sienne Veit, Social and Mobile Commerce Development Manager, Marks & Spencer said, “We approached MIG because of their success in the Retail space, their capabilities in delivering great mobile campaigns and for their in-depth understanding of the mobile consumer experience.

“For M&S the mCommerce site is all about getting product quickly and easily to consumers via mobile and paying for their product on their mobile device," Veit explained.  Our aim is to integrate mobile as a channel to stand alongside web, phone and stops as part of ‘Shop Your Way’, to increase basket size and drive sales.  We’ve also incorporated a customer feedback facility to enable customer review’s, we’ve also given consumers a choice of delivery method.”

Consultancy for the development of the mCommerce mobile internet site between M&S and MIG, in conjunction with Usablenet, commenced in early April this year and took a phased approach. Phase one was ‘Discover and Definition’, moving through to ‘Concept look and feel’, ‘Design Refinement and Approval’ to ‘Making sure the site worked on Multiple Handsets’. Throughout all phase’s user experience, design and usability were the focus of discussions.

Features on the site, which includes full product ranges for Women’s, Men’s, Kids Clothing, Home and Furniture, Technology and more. include a store finder to locate your nearest outlet and the ability to search per product and then to refine these searches to a specific item. The site also allows the shopper to register account information.

To learn more, join MIG’s interactive Webinar focussing on how to implement a mobile strategy in Retail.  The 60 minute webinar, which takes place on Wed. 5th October at 9am, is being run in partnership with the IMRG and will give participants the opportunity to put their questions to Sienne Veit, Social and Mobile Commerce Development Manager, M&S and Tim Dunn, Director of Strategy at MIG. Please visit the Webinar registration page here