LIkewise, 1-800-Flowers (FLWS) launched its first mobile site in 2006 before expanding into the apps three years later. Since then, the flower retailer has added a new social app that connects to Facebook to remind customers of their friends'birthdays. The company also revamped its mobile website last year so customers could finish a purchase with fewer clicks. Its changes have decreased shopping cart abandonment by 53%. But the real key to mobile success, says company president Chris McCann, is to be on every device and platform the consumer is on. "We're trying to make a rich user experience according to each different device. Right now, we're even designing a separate tablet experience," McCann says.
That method may have worked in the beginning of the mobile evolution, but business have to take a more cautious approach now, says Mike Svatek, chief strategy officer of Bazaarvoice, a social software company that analyzes online and mobile branding for companies like Macy's (M) and Schwan's. "Ideally, you want to establish a baseline before you start tailoring to different devices or diving into apps," Svatek says. "For some brands, apps just don't make sense. There are hundreds of thousands of apps out there, so how do you get a user to find your app, install it, and continually use it?"
And that's where Google comes in. It has seen how vital the mobile web is to its future. Now, it's likely to keep looking for new ways to exploit it.
