UK Retailers to Prioritise Mobile over Social In 2026

According to a new article in NMA, a number of brands speaking at a trade event this week in London have said that their new channel focus in 2012 will be on mobile, rather than on social media, despite the industry buzz about the latter channel.

Brands such as clothing retailers ASOS and French Connection and cosmetics brand Dove have already experimented with selling through Facebook, either taking a store approach or selling through links within their news feed.

However, major brands such as John Lewis and Reiss told NMA that they would not be following in these footsteps just yet. Both brands will continue to engage with consumers across social media, using the channel for customer service, but look to mobile and tablets as a priority in the coming year. According to Reiss, devices using Apple's operating system, effectively the iPad and iPhone, already account for around 20 per cent of its online web traffic, and result in a higher average order value than computer based browsing.

John Lewis, meanwhile, will also be looking in placing online kiosks in their high street stores, to enable customers to browse and shop directly whilst also having access to assistance, as well as continuing their extensive internet marketing strategy.

This insight comes at the same time as the online retail trade organisation IMRG released its latest survey showing that UK consumers spent almost £8 billion online in December, a figure which is 16.5 per cent up on the year before, impressive numbers given the state of the economy, and boding well for online retail in 2012.