Web

Enabling your website for mobile visitors doesn't just improve the consumer experience. It also makes commercial sense.

The latest organisation to produce figures that prove what we've known for a long time is UK-based search marketing agency Mediarun. It's found that ‘bounce rates' from mobile devices are around 40%, which is about 10% higher than on desktop browsers. The company says this means 5.6% of all mobile traffic is being lost by online retailers... and that's a significant amount of lost sales.

New figures from smartphone owners in the USA show that retail websites are still more popular than stand-alone apps.

Nielsen's detailed analysis of smartphone usage reveals that retailers' mobile websites are more popular than their mobile apps, with Amazon having the most popular retail mobile website of all. The top five retail apps and websites combined - Amazon, Best Buy, eBay, Target and Walmart - reached nearly 60% of US smartphone owners.

The research also revealed that shoppers preferred retailers' mobile websites over mobile apps, although consumers who used retailers' mobile apps tended to spend more time on them.

If I see a street sign that says The Close, I'd expect the road to be a cul-de-sac. If it's called The Crescent, I'd expect it to be curved. The Boulevard may well have a central reservation. And the High Street will probably have shops. Not always but often.

This year's CES event in Las Vegas promises to be the biggest yet. But it's not just the event that's getting bigger.