10 Reasons it pays to have a responsive Magento website

11:08 AM June 2, 2014

During the past few years, people have witnessed the tremendous explosion in terms of popularity and usage of smart-phones, tablets and other Internet-enabled mobile devices. A projection from the marketing research firm IDC placed smartphone shipment volume in 2014 to hit the one billion mark. In another forecast from Pacific Web Technology, 2014 will be the year when Internet use on mobile devices from across the globe will surpass usage on laptops and desktop computers.

So you can see from these figures and forecasts that there is a clear indication of the importance of having a website, particularly those involved in e-commerce, specifically designed for ease-of-view using mobile devices. However, it is obviously not very cost-effective to maintain multiple websites, each targeting a particular platform. When it comes to integrating responsive features to an e-commerce site, one particular platform stands out above all others – Magento.

Magento is an open-source e-commerce website platform that has emerged as the powerhouse for building responsive e-commerce websites. In the chart below you can see statistics based on eCommerce software usage among the Top 1 Million Sites. Magento topped the chart with 26.08% out of the total of 34,864 e-commerce websites ranked in this category.

The following chart from Lissori points out that more than 2.5 million download instances of Magento has already taken place, 150,000 of which were performed by online businesses which include some top brands like Samsung, Nestle, Ford, Lenovo, Gap and the Banana Republic. Magento usage trends continue to rise on the trend charts below based on figures from the Top 10,000, Top 100,000 and Top 1 Million Sites with online shopping and business as the top usage categories.

If these figures and statistics still haven’t convinced you why it pays to have a responsive Magento website, then the following 10 Reasons will.

Reason 1: One Website for Google to index

Before the advent of the responsive website, e-commerce site and business owners wanting to maximize mileage across all platforms and devices needed to have separate websites specifically designed for a specific device or platform. This meant having different domain names for each site like website.mobi or m.website.com to distinguish one site from the other. This was a workable solution before responsive design came into the picture, but it definitely isn’t an efficient way of doing things. Especially in the year 2014.

Having a responsive Magento website solves this problem, allowing you to have a single website with a single domain name for Google and other search engines to index. This is important not only in terms of reducing costs but in terms of other important aspects as well like Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and content management.

Reason 2: Responsive Design Provides the Best Possible Visual Experience for Each Shopper

Mobile marketing statistics for 2014 indicate that 30% of all consumers in the United States are using their Internet-enabled handheld devices for online shopping. As an e-commerce store and business owner, you need to cater to both mobile Internet users and laptop/desktop users for maximum marketing mileage. It is almost impossible to predict what type of user will access your website at any given moment. Having a responsive Magento website will ensure the best possible visual experience for any type of user.

Reason 3: One Website with One Set Of Products to Manage

It is projected that 15% of all sales from eCommerce will come from mobile websites from a wide variety of Internet-enabled smartphones and tablets. It’s also important to note that every day up to 12% of online shoppers in the United States uses their tablets. Another 20% of these tablet-using shoppers does it more than once a week, while another 24% do so at least two to three times each month.

Getting access to these marketing targets will be quite difficult using multiple websites catered to the various devices online shoppers are using. With a responsive design, you will only have one Magento website to manage and one set of products to optimize, giving your targeted customers the best visual shopping experience each time they visit your site.

Reason 4: Increases Mobile Shopping Options

Smartphones have become a very important fixture in our American households with 91% of individuals accessing their devices almost every hour, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. It is important that your website is responsive enough to automatically adjust in screen size and other visual aspects to provide mobile users a satisfying shopping experience when they visit your Magento eCommerce site. Having a responsive Magento website makes shopping convenient and a breeze by providing your visitors with the best mobile shopping experience.

Providing your website visitors with efficient mobile shopping options can increase your chances of conversions, whether they are using an Android, iPhone or Windows device. Statistics from ForeSee show that 54% of shoppers are more likely to purchase from a store with an e-commerce website. With a responsive Magento website, you can be rest easier knowing that you’re providing an enhanced mobile web experience for your visitors – and watch your conversion rates go sky high.

Reason 5: Better SEO Performance

Having a single, responsive Magento website means a single domain for Google and other search engines to index. This would is important when considering SEO, as multiple websites will scatter valuable website traffic to different destinations, making each of your version compete with the other. Having a responsive website will also prevent you from having multiple websites that may have duplicate content, as the case may be if you are trying to market the same product or services using different platforms.

Reason 6: Designed with Speed in Mind

Statistics indicate that 37% of consumers find many mobile websites out there very difficult to browse or navigate. It doesn’t speak well for your business if you belong to this group and mobile users will easily be turned off and move on to a competitor’s site that gives them a more mobile-friendly shopping experience. A responsive Magento website makes it faster and easier for mobile users to navigate because these sites are designed with speed in mind, utilizing fast CSS sprite techniques and clean code that makes it easier to process https requests and page loads.

Reason 7: Content Management is Easier

It is a very simple scenario. If visitors find your mobile website unpleasant, 46% will most likely never return again. Websites failing to load is brought about by to many web elements trying load, which results in browsers hanging and the pages failing to load. A responsive Magento website ensures that you don’t fall into this problem by making it easy for you to manage and maintain your content and other aspects of your site. Content presented in the desktop version of your website may not necessarily be shown in the tablet or mobile versions. Magento makes it easier for you to manage such content, ensuring your visitors get a great user experience for each visit.

Reason 8: Easier Shopping Cart across Devices

It is projected that this year, 2014, mobile payments in the United States will increase from $18 billion to $90 billion. That is a massive increase on a monumental scale and why it is absolutely imperative that your Magento website gets ready with all the tools and enhancements it needs to cater to mobile consumers. This includes efficient shopping cart systems that will make it convenient for online shoppers whether using their desktops, laptops, tablets or smartphones.

A responsive Magento shopping cart makes it easy to handle mobile eCommerce transactions no matter what device your users are shopping with. When it comes to the best eCommerce frameworks, Magento ranks the highest. Up to 24.8% of all websites using an online shopping cart system, from large multinational businesses to smaller eCommerce sites, do so through the Magento framework.

Reason 9: Easy Customization

One of the strongest features of the Magento platform is its extensible eCommerce framework making it a top choice among online store owners and merchants looking to improve the features of their website. The ability to add Extensions to the Magento framework make it very appealing, giving website owners additional features and capabilities. Store owners don’t like to be married to platforms that they can’t improve on and they don’t own the code to. Magento allows the website owner scale up as they see fit and to own all the code and design files.

Reason 10: Compliance to W3C Standards

The World Wide Web Consortium or W3C is the international industry consortium that sets the standards and specifications required for the interoperability of devices and products using the Internet. When you use a responsive Magento website, you are ensured that your website is compliant with W3C standards. Continuous customizations and theme developments from the Magento community ensures that your website always will.

Mobile online e-commerce is no longer looked at as unsafe or restricted as it once was. The increasing number of users and the devices that support their use makes it a necessity for online businesses to cater to all online users whatever their devices may be.

Contact Full Impact Studios today to discuss designing and building your responsive Magento store or converting your existing store to a responsive design. 1-800-658-0113 or request a Magento quote. We’re a full service Magento development agency.