Building a mobile website for retail purposes

While mobile internet usage is still pretty small in Australia, it’s time we started thinking about shopping and buying over the mobile channel.  It’s only a matter of time until this becomes common practice in our markets. As consumer behavior shifts and becomes more in favor of buying online, mobile offers yet another channel to access the Internet. 

Mobile commerce is the next frontier for retailers and marketers. Consumers overseas are not only getting more comfortable browsing and shopping on mobile, but handsets are increasingly more capable of delivering those experiences. 

So, mobile shopping and buying will become acceptable behavior, particularly with impulse purchases. Just as consumers expect the same experiences online as they do in-store – inventory, branding, pricing, product availability, customer service – so will they soon expect the same from mobile. 

This opportunity creates a number of interesting challenges. Which industry sectors lend themselves to mobile commerce? Will simply repurposing the traditional ecommerce site do? How do we integrate mobile into the sales process and what is the role of SMS in driving store traffic?

So, some exciting challenges lie ahead for all marketers. I’d love to hear your views on this one.