When a business needs to revamp their online stores for all devices, they need to choose between a responsive ecommerce and a mcommerce solution. Both are viable options, but with more emphasis being placed on offering a seamless experience across multiple devices, is responsive design replacing mcommerce?
What Is The Difference Between Responsive Ecommerce And Mcommerce?
Choosing between responsive design and mcommerce will impact budget, time and the future efficiency of your ecommerce site. In order to make a decision, you need to know the difference between the two solutions first.
Responsive Ecommerce – A responsively designed website is built to adapt to multiple devices from a single URL. The site will react to whichever device is being used by adjusting images, buttons, links and other features.
Mcommerce Design – A mobile optimised site is designed for mobile browsing only. It is a condensed and highly functional m-site which operates from a separate URL.
Responsive design will allow users across devices to access the same content, products and have the same shopping experience.
What Are The Benefits Of Responsive Ecommerce?
Although both responsive and mcommerce solutions can both be successful, responsive design is quickly becoming the best long-term choice for efficiency and the changing shopping environment. These are some of the main benefits of responsive ecommerce.
One Code – Whereas a mcommerce solution requires two sets of code, a responsive site only operates from one centralised code. Although the initial development of a responsive website takes longer, requiring just one URL means in the long run maintenance is simpler and will actually save time and is built for the future.
Unified Content – Online consumers have changed their expectations when it comes to browsing websites. They now expect a website to function the same across multiple devices. Mcommerce can create unique content for mobile, but dramatic changes make the adjustment harsh for visitors. Responsive ensures all features on a desktop site can be found on mobile.
Mobile First – Ecommerce companies such as Store Express will offer a mobile first responsive solution. This means as a site is developed, the smallest device is always considered first. This way, all page elements, such as buttons and links, will be sized to work on a mobile device first and then expand to a desktop device.
Better SEO – Having one URL will also benefit search engine rankings. It makes it easier for customers to find and share your site on social media, which means more exposure. Google also recommends responsive design as a way of improving search engine optimisation. They can index a site quicker and they only need to crawl the site once rather than multiple times.
Responsive design is seen as the best solution for the future. Operating from one code makes for easy management and improved SEO. Unifying content improves the user experience to attract and convert traffic.