Optimize websites for mobile or miss out on Christmas sales

The latest IMRG Capgemini Quarterly Benchmarking Index forecasts that 30% of website visits will be via a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet, by Christmas this year.

Furthermore, 20% of online sales will be completed on a mobile device.

"The second decade of this century will be viewed in history as the decade when the mobile device became the point of access to digital services," said Chris Webster, vice president of consumer products and retail at Capgemini.

"This has happened very quickly for commerce services and by the end of this year, 20% of all digital commerce transactions will be completed on mobile devices."

Top UK Brands Yet to Optimize

Over 14 million people in the UK now access the Internet from their mobile device each day. Mobile commerce (including tablets) accounted for 11.6% of UK online sales in Q2 2012, with mobile accounting for 21.1% of total e-retail visits.

Despite this huge rise in use of mobile technology by consumers, many top UK brands and advertisers have yet to optimize their websites for mobile users.

Of the top 100 brands in the UK just 40% were found by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) to have mobile-optimized their websites including supermarket Tesco, DIY chain B&Q and Boots the Chemist.

Those that did optimize for mobile found an increase in consumer engagement, clocking up average dwell times of 5 minutes - 2 minutes longer than non-optimized sites.

Furthermore, consumers visiting a mobile-optimized website looked at, on average, 19 pages per person - 33% more than if the site was not optimized (12 pages).

Tags: e-commerce, m-commerce, mobile usage, online sales, online shopping, optimization, UK