A few days ago, on the bus to Goose Green, I overheard this sentence: 'What’s the matter with all them tablets? What’s the point in something that looks like a phone on steroids, but can’t be used as a phone and doesn’t fit in your pocket?'
This is more or less the general feeling about tablets, at least on the 37 towards Peckham.
But numbers tell a different story: tablet owners are generally male, 18-34 year-olds, with a good income (around $50k per annum).
They are increasingly using the devices for “pre-sale” activities, such as checking the products, reading reviews, searching for the nearest store and so on.
Moreover, data show that conversion rates and sales are higher with tablets buyers than desktop and mobile phones shoppers.
Tablet sales are increasing.
A report from ABI Research shows that in the second quarter of 2011, compared to the first one, the number of shipped items has seen a growth of 112%. The iPad is still the man to beat; according to Reuters ‘Non-iPad tablet sales have been hampered by the popularity of the Apple product and patent-infringement litigation brought by the Cupertino company against its chief competitor Samsung in various markets.’
Of course, mobile is another matter. The market has changed drastically in just 18 months, with Android going from nowhere to everywhere; today, almost 50% of all smartphones sold in the UK is powered Android, who is beating Apple’s iPhone, (the almost suicidal) Blackberry OS and (the moribund) Nokia’s Symbian.
China is ready for the eCommerce bacchanal.
eCommerce in China is about to explode; pioneers such as La Mui, Mbaobao and Greenbox are about to take the way people shop to the next level.
Lu Dong of La Mui recently said that ‘China is ready for eCommerce… People are moving to buying almost anything online.’
As we argued many times, the ones who ignore China will go through a hard time in the near future. Moreover, technology is selling like bread in the land of Mao Tse-tung and Jackie Chan, with people ready to sell a kidney through underground dealer in order to raise the money to buy an iPad (it happened in June).
Is Flash going to end up with a gash?
Considering tablets’ jubilant moment, and the iPad importance is such market, many e-tailers and online shops – especially when it comes to fashion eCommerce - might want to adjust their strategy and think again about the use of Flash.
Amazing things can be done without it; recently, Armani Exchange showed that fashion eCommerce can be taken to another level with the launch of A|X VIDEOMIX, an iOS (i.e. Apple) app that lets users create their own fashion show, and then buy the items.
You select (real) models, music tracks and background, you wear your best pair of shades (Anna Wintour docet), enjoy the show and share it with your friends, on Facebook and Twitter.
A “Super Show” created ad hoc by Giorgio Armani, along with invites to contests, special sales and prizes, will be available for the app users. “It’s getting back to our customers,” says Tom Jarrold, CMO for Armani Exchange. “They’re super digital. I think half of our customers have an iPhone, which is pretty amazing. … It really is where they’re spending their time, so we want to reach them where they are.”
Not bad for a brand that a few years ago defined social media as “useless”.
Conclusions.
Fashion eCommerce websites – especially in this time of the year, when Christmas is around the corner – should consider a few points:
• Keep it cool: a high end web design and a smooth user experience are the basics, just like white shirt and black skinny tie.
• Keep it simple, and then simpler: the checkout process should be a pleasant, shorter process – e.g. replace rollover menus with gesture based ones.
• Keep it iPad-friendly: try to avoid Flash, and use bigger characters.
If you are looking for “London web agency” “Web design London”, “Fashion eCommerce” or “High end web design” you will find our name, Appnova.
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