Halfords mobile site goes transactional

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: Halfords mobile site goes transactional.

Salmon, specialists in delivering eCommerce solutions, has announced car accessories and cycling retailer Halfords has launched its first ever transactional mobile website.

This builds on the success of Halfords' dotmobile site, which went live in August. Now the retailer has made further enhancements to enable customers to pay for orders via their mobile phone.
 
Shopping from mobile phones is booming. More than a quarter of Britons have a smartphone, rising to 45% amongst 15-24 year olds. IMS research states that the number of internet connected phones has now surpassed the number of connected computers.
 
Metrics from Halfords support this progression. Since the launch of the dotmobile site, the retailer has seen mobile visitor numbers increase to 8% of Halfords' dotcom total. Conversion levels have also doubled.
 
Chris Corbin, Head of Multichannel at Halfords said: "More and more of our customers are accessing our site via mobile and we want them to have the same experience as they have from a computer. Smartphones point to how trends in shopping habits are changing fast."
 
The new transactional site, developed by Salmon, makes Halfords the first retailer in the UK to offer such a variety of delivery options via their smartphone. Mobile customers will now have access to Halfords' extended range of products and the same fulfillment options in use on the main Halfords.com site, offering a true multichannel experience.
 
Customers can choose from Home/Work Delivery, Order & Collect (Free to Store) or Reserve & Collect, as well as using functions to search for products, read customer reviews, compare products, and find their nearest store with stock.
 
When using the new dotmobile site, customers can choose to pay by credit/debit card or PayPal, the same payment methods supported by Halfords.com. Halfords is the first mass UK retailer to offer PayPal as a mobile payment method.
 
Sue Pratt from Salmon added: "In response to customer feedback we've made a number of improvements to the navigation of search results, and the usability of links on mobile touch screens along with other minor enhancements to the navigation, look and feel of the site."