According to the Keynote Mobile Commerce Performance Index, Walmart.com’s mobile commerce site earned a perfect score for mobile web performance. The mega retailer’sm-commerce site homepage downloaded on average in 3.22 seconds and did so 98.99% of the time. That’s very impressive.
Keynote Systems Inc., a mobile and web performance firm, weighs and then combines load times and success rate to issue a score. Walmart.com’s mobile commerce site earned an index score of 985 out of 1,000- a nearly perfect score.
The retailer’s mobile site homepage is a minimalist’s dream. The mobile site is light on design, with an emphasis on text in category listings, and a site search box. The m-commerce site is stripped down to the most fundamental features, which helps to keep page download times to a minimum and keep customers happy. Companies in the stages of developing an m-commerce site should use Walmart.com’s mobile site as a template for success.
Surprisingly, only 8.8 % percent of retail organizations operate a mobile site. This information comes from an Internet Retailer survey of 149 chain retailers, web-only merchants, catalog companies, and consumer brand manufacturers. With more and more people switching over to smartphones, companies should start thinking about creating mobile versions of their websites. People are now relying on their smartphones to check email, checking into social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, surfing the web, and shopping. While businesses and brands have taken to creating an online presence in social media, they have not been so quick to develop mobile sites or m-commerce sites. It seems companies have been slow to join the mobile commerce bandwagon because advances in emerging mobile technologies have not been as available in the past as they are now.
The Internet Retailer survey indicates that 75.9% of ecommerce operators plan to launch an m-commerce site, and soon, anywhere between six months to a year. If Walmart.com’s mobile site proves anything, it’s that performance is key. Merchants can build a mobile-commerce site on a modest budget and be successful, so long as the site is easy to use and operates well.
Written by Ana A.