Mobile Support in ShopSite 11 SP1 – What You Need to Know
Mobile shopping is only on the rise these days. I’ve read a number of articles predicting 10-15 percent of *ALL* 2011 holiday ecommerce sales will come from mobile/tablet devices. Your store’s percentage may vary, but you can no longer ignore this growing segment.
Luckily, the latest version of ShopSite, version 11 service pack 1 (SP1) helps with built-in mobile support…
General tips and articles about mobile commerce
The Getelastic.com blog has two recent posts that are a great read:
10 Key Highlights on mCommerce
Internet Retailer has an article about ecommerce with an emphasis on mobile purchasing trends this holiday season.
ShopSite 11 sp1 to the rescue!
With the latest version of ShopSite ecommerce software, you can now create a mobile version of your website without needing a full-time designer. But where do you start?
Lauren Hills has some great basic tips on preparing your website for mobile support. Start with this to get an overview of what you need to do.
Next, watch this short 4 minute video from ShopSite on setting up mobile support in your ShopSite store.
If you’re using custom templates, you’ll need to make a few tweaks to your existing templates. Read ShopSite’s handy new SP1 tags article to see what changes you’ll need to make.
But the most important step…
After you’ve done all this, make sure you TEST, TEST, TEST! Try your new mobile site out on a variety of smartphones (Android, iPhone, iPad, etc…). Try switching between mobile and full website modes. See what works and what doesn’t.
Optimize your mobile pages to only include your best sellers and popular items. Make sure it’s easy to navigate, and easy for customers to switch to your main website. Complete a purchase from your phone to insure the entire process flows smoothly and has no hiccups.
I’m always amazed when merchants launch a new service / feature, but fail to adequately test it. I know it’s a pain and the least fun part of the process, but it’s the most important step in my book.
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Hopefully this gives you a starting point for making your ShopSite ecommerce store more mobile friendly. I’d love to hear your feedback and real world stories about implementing mobile support in your store…
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