The understanding of m-retailing and social commerce may be on the rise, but a study by One-iota has found that only one in five of the UK’s top 100 retailers have a mobile optimised website and only 4% have integrated a shopping function into their social media fan pages.
The research did, however, highlight reasonably buoyant engagement for those retailers that have invested in a Facebook presence. In total, there are nearly 7 million consumers currently engaged on Facebook fan pages of the top 100 retailers. Arcadia owned Topshop, currently leads the pack with more than 1.2 million fans – almost 20% of the total number of users engaged by the top 100 retailers in the UK.
One iota analysed the social and mobile commerce sites from the Annual IMRG/Hitwise HOT 100. The list, which was topped by Amazon for the fourth year running, included top retailers such as Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Play.com, Asos and Argos.
Speaking of the findings, Damian Hanson, co founder and CEO of One iota, said: “Following the recent announcement that ASOS intends to launch an integrated social and commerce Facebook store, it’s clear that retailers need to keep up in terms of innovative consumer shopping experiences. However, many of the country’s biggest brands are still lagging behind in terms of full transactional engagement across both mobile and social channels.
“This will be the year when retailers need to implement shopping functions across multiple channels in a fully integrated way so that shoppers can buy from the brands they love, when and wherever they want,” Hanson continued. “Failure to do so will result in a loss of business through poor conversion and engagement. Facebook is set to become the next destination for online shopping and retailers must engage shoppers where they spend the majority of their time online.”
Hanson concluded: “Social and mobile shopping is going to be key to the success of many retail brands in the next 12-18 months. Optimised mobile internet and social commerce sites are simple to develop through One iota and quickly boost revenue streams by leveraging the power of social media to turn buyers into brand advocates, through social sharing, reviews, incentives and group discounts.”
