Tag: mobile shopping

Citibank to bring Cyber Monday to India

| December 5, 2012

 

Citibank has ambitious plans for a Cyber Monday event in India

This year’s Cyber Monday in tCyber Monday Flag of Indiahe U.S. broke sales records of previous years largely due to the showing of mobile commerce. Consumers throughout the country took advantage of aggressive deals from retailers on a wide range of products, making Cyber Monday one of the most successful shopping days the retail industry has ever seen. India may soon get its own version of Cyber Monday, which is being pushed heavily by Citibank.

US shopping season serves as inspiration for new venture

Citibank has ambitious plans to institute Cyber Monday in India in order to take advantage of the growing number of consumers that are intensely interested in electronics. The financial services group aims to promote mobile commerce among these consumers by giving them a way to purchase products from their mobile device rather than use a computer. Cyber Monday has, since 2005 when the day was minted by the retail industry, been responsible for billions of dollar worth of sales for retailers and Citibank believes that the time is right for the shopping phenomenon to come to India.

Savings available to Citibank customers only

If Citibank can successfully bring Cyber Monday to India, only Citibank customers will be able to take advantage of discounts that retailers participating in the event offer. Citibank expects that 17 of India’s most popular e-commerce and shopping platforms will offer discounts on products as high as 60%. Currently, the shopping event is scheduled to take place on December 5 and will be India’s first ever “Cyber Sunday.”

India may be able to see success through Cyber Monday initiative

Though any Citibank customer will be able to access the deals offered to them through a wide range of platforms, Citibank is hoping to engage mobile consumers in a powerful way. Mobile commerce is one the rise in India, especially as communities become more affluent because of the rapidly growing economy. In the U.S., mobile consumers accounting for a huge portion of the sales made on Cyber Monday. Citibank is keen to see similar results mimicked in India.

Mobile commerce sites slow to a crawl during holiday shopping

| December 3, 2012

 

Mobile Commerce Slow Mobile Shopping SitesMobile commerce may be a problem for site traffic

Mobile commerce had a strong showing over the Thanksgiving holiday shopping weekend. Mobile sales this year set a new standard for much of the retail industry and proved how powerful mobile commerce can really be. Retailers are expected to show more enthusiasm in mobile commerce due to the gains they saw during the holiday shopping weekend, but they may also have to fine tune their mobile shopping initiatives to account for higher levels of traffic.

Keynote shows average load time exceeds 18 seconds

Though a vast multitude of consumers took to their mobile devices to shop for the products they wanted, many saw mobile commerce platforms slow to a crawl. Keynote, a site monitoring and testing companies, notes that many e-commerce and mobile platforms experiences a dramatic slow down over the holiday shopping weekend. This slow down was especially pronounced on Cyber Monday, with consumers flocked to retail sites to buy products. According to Keynote, the average load time for a mobile retail site on Cyber Monday reached 18 seconds — twice as slow as normal load times.

Consumers not apt to wait during holiday shopping

While 18 seconds may not seem like a significant amount of time, many consumers correlate slow load times with poor service. Though retailers have been investing heavily in mobile commerce, much of the effort these companies have been putting into the sector revolves around engaging consumers. As such, relatively few retailers were prepared for the massive amount of traffic they would experience on their mobile sites. Retailers may have to rethink  their approach to mobile commerce if they want to continue engaging mobile consumers.

Retailers may need to take new approach to their mobile sites

Mobile commerce is growing quickly, putting major strain on mobile websites that are designed to serve consumers. Keynote suggests that there may be a simple solution. Retailers must develop better mobile websites and adopt more rigorous testing procedures to ensure that their sites can handle high levels of traffic. Without adequate testing, a slow-loading website could be enough to have consumers looking elsewhere for service.