84% of UK fashion retailers do not have a mobile website

Almost 90% of fashion retailers in the UK believe mobile should be an essential part of their business. However, a poll by m-commerce solutions firm MoPowered found that perceived high costs, security concerns and a lack of resources prevents the vast majority from taking the plunge.

by Helen Leggatt

The good news is that nearly all (90%) of the 300 or so small- to medium-sized UK fashion retailers surveyed by OnePoll for MoPowered believe mobile shopping should be an essential part of their business.

The key word here is "should", because the bad news is that a whopping 84% of those retailers don't have a mobile website.

That's despite comScore's estimate that there are now over 28 million smartphones in use across the UK, 38% more than twelve months ago.

"With recent British Retail Consortium figures showing a slump in retail sales during the Olympics (August 2012) and with autumn ranges set to be rolled out as well as the looming Christmas period, fashion retailers can't afford to risk missing out on this additional business as consumers want to shop anytime, anyplace and anywhere," says Dominic Keen, chief executive of MoPowered.

When asked what was preventing them from moving forward with a mobile website many cited perceived high costs, a lack of resources and security concerns. A third was put off by the risk of mobile payments and 36% believed it would be too time-consuming. And yet, those same retailers believe m-commerce sales would increase by a third over the next five years.

"Recent research by Google shows that at least 15% of all online traffic is now coming through mobile meaning not being handset optimized is equivalent to shutting your online store for a day of every week," warned Keen.

Tags: fashion retailer, m-commerce, mobile optimization, mobile shopping, mobile website, retail trends, smartphone, UK