Canadian Retailer - Summer 2013 - 4

publisher's desk

Do you know where
your customer is?

publisher

Take a look at the clock near-

est to you. Now, ask yourself if you
know where your customer is. If
your answer was anything but a
resounding and confident, “yes,”
then your organization is clearly not
omnichannel ready. And, if all of the
latest research concerning consumer behaviours is anywhere near the
mark - you're going to need to optimize your operations to meet them
where they are gathering, conversing and shopping.
Mobify - a Canadian website platform provider - recently released data
that it says underscores the value of
an omnichannel presence and the
cost to retailers whose platforms have
not been optimized for a seamless
customer experience. Mobify's research reveals that, due to slow load
times for the world's top 100 Internet
retailers, more than $600 million in
combined annual e-commerce sales
is lost because customers abandon
website homepages before they are
even finished loading.
The company used research conducted by KISSmetrics as a basis for
its claim. The data it collected indicates that mobile users stay longer
and engage more with fast-loading
websites. And the research showed
that a one second delay in download
time resulted in a seven per cent reduction in conversions.
Though the basis for its claim is
roundabout, and an estimation at
best, Mobify believes that as retailers continue to build and develop
rich, responsive websites to appeal
to the online and mobile consumer,
load times will in turn continue to
increase. In light of this, Mobify independently measured the mobile
download times of 2012's Top 100 Internet Retailer websites. The mobile
download times were combined with
mobile visits, mobile revenue and
conversion rates from the Internet

SuMMeR 2013 | VOluMe 23 ISSue 3

Diane J. Brisebois
s e n i o r v i c e - p r e s i d e n t, m e m b e r s h i p

Andrew Siegwart

editor-in- chief

Sean C. Tarry
(416) 922-0553, ext. 286
starry@retailcouncil.org
art direction

Scope Media
www.scopemedia.ca

Retailer's Top 500 Guide. Using this
dataset, Mobify applied the KISSMetrics seven per cent conversion
reduction model to each of the top
100 website homepages, resulting in
what seems to be a massive amount
of revenue lost, or unconverted.
Whether or not you subscribe to the
testing and research conducted by
Mobify or KISSmetrics, the findings
of the two companies can't be too far
off, and are echoed similarly by other
research firms and omnichannel experts worldwide.
And, whether or not you subscribe
to these numbers and theories does
not change the fact that your customers are online and on their mobile devices, on your website, your
competitor's website or conversing
on one of the many social media
sites... all day, every day.
Are you ready? This issue of Canadian Retailer magazine focuses on
retail marketing and e-commerce and
we hope it provides an added incentive to renew your focus on meeting
your customers' needs anywhere and
at any time. Enjoy the read and don't
forget to pass on your comments or
views.
Sincerely,

Diane J. Brisebois
President and CEO
Retail Council of Canada

canadian retailer | summer 2013 | www.retailcouncil.org/cdnretailer

contributors

Talbot Boggs, Kimberly Clark,
Danielle Harder, Andrew Hind,
Robert Price, Rob Stocks
d i r e c t o r o f p u b l i c at i o n s

Bob Phillips
rphillips@naylor.com
project manager

Alana Place
aplace@naylor.com
sales manager

Bill McDougall
bmcdougall@naylor.com
editorial office

1881 Yonge Street, Suite 800
Toronto, Ontario M4S 3C4
Phone: (416) 922-6678 | Fax: (416) 922-8011
www.retailcouncil.org
a d v e r t i s i n g/ p r o d u c t i o n o f f i c e

Naylor (Canada), Inc.
300 – 1630 Ness Avenue,
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3J 3X1
Phone: (800) 665-2456 | Fax: (800) 709-5551
www.naylor.com
Canadian Retailer is published six times each
year by Retail Council of Canada. Members
receive complimentary copies of the magazine
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rate for non-members is $36.75 + tax.
Publication Mail Agreement No. 40064978
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We welcome your article suggestions and
any photographs pertaining to retailing in
Canada. Please note the opinions expressed
in Canadian Retailer do not necessarily
reflect those of Retail Council of Canada. For
article reprints, contact Naylor (Canada) at
1-800-665-2456.

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Canadian Retailer - Summer 2013

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