eCommerce Journal

Companies looking to turn mobile phone “browsers” into buyers can now turn their mobile Websites into brand consistent, fully functional m-commerce destinations without losing control or profits to third parties — regardless of the type of cell phone or carrier their customers use.

After more than three years of extensive research and development and testing with major retailers, Siteminis – a developer of Web-based mobile commerce software – has announced its’ patented Mobile Web Solution™, one of the first mobile platforms that allows companies to easily deploy one site instead of multiple sites for each type of phone.

The mobile web solution allows a complete and consistent shopping experience on mobile, regardless of the type of cell phone or carrier their customers use.

Siteminis’ mobile-optimized sites offer the perfect solution for major retailers, entertainment and sporting events, as well as travel providers who are looking to ensure their mobile marketing strategies are managed profitably with their mobile commerce strategies. The platform offers customers who wish to purchase merchandise, tickets or make reservations a convenient shopping experience, allowing them functionality not previously available to them before and the ability to view a consistent mobile Website regardless of their wireless phone carrier or type of web enabled or smartphone operating system.

Before Siteminis developed this distinctive mobile-optimized solution to e-commerce, companies had to use a complex integration strategy to deploy multiple mobile sites, each designed and seen differently over different wireless carrier networks and phone Internet browser platforms. This resulted in a variety of brand design and functionality experiences for users of each type of mobile platform – playing havoc with companies’ efforts to present a consistent brand image to consumers across Microsoft Windows Mobile, Palm, iPhone, Nokia, Android and Blackberry platforms.

Unlike existing mobile Websites today, Siteminis Mobile Web solution simplifies a company’s mobile Web strategy by:

• Allowing IT administrators and Web designers to easily deploy and manage multiple site configurations into one site across several platforms.
• Lowering the cost – they need create only one site versus multiple sites
• Removing reconfiguration of mobile Web sites with each new phone operating system
• Recognizing every smartphone platform, as well as all Web-enabled cellphones
• Working across all wireless carriers
• Turning cell phone shoppers from browsers into buyers
• Allowing the same consistent design and brand to be viewed regardless of phone or wireless carrier.

“Today’s tech-savvy consumers want to shop as well as browse on their phones,” according to Marci Troutman, CEO of Siteminis. “Siteminis’ mobile-optimized sites are customized to provide retailers and service providers with marketing and branding solutions that keep the brand design consistent, regardless of the cell phone browser or carrier. No savvy mobile consumer is left out.”

Technology Challenges Overcome

Using Siteminis Mobile Web Solution, companies can now simplify the implementation with one mobile optimized site, one URL and one mobile redirect which automatically detects the user’s browser and cell phone type and delivers an optimized mobile commerce site with a consistent design and functionality, no matter what carrier they use or what cell the site is viewed on. By establishing a new platform directly into your existing website, Siteminis’ Mobile Redirect^® detects the mobile device and instantly and invisibly redirects the browser to an adjacent, mobile-optimized website with your own URL, eliminating the need for a third-party host server.

Most mobile web sites today have been built on device-specific platforms or the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), an antiquated platform created in 1997 that has constrained user interface capabilities. WAP sites require separate activation and additional fees for data support and data access licenses. All of these barriers to access and added costs are eliminated with Siteminis.

Many wireless carriers sold their WAP services as "open”; however, they also made sure that the first page which clients accessed was their own "wireless portal”, which they controlled very closely. While there are a small number of mobile-configured websites that can accept payment transactions, most either charge a fee to a third-party vendor, or simply add the charge to the consumers’ cell phone bills. In this process, the browser is redirected from the retailer’s website to a third-party host’s URL. With its proprietary Mobile Redirect^® technology, Siteminis eliminates the need for a third-party host. The software, which is configured into the client’s existing website, allows retailers to offer their consumers a fully functional mobile marketplace, along with the convenience of making purchases and other transactions through a secure mobile portal on their own website which can be easily maintained by the organization.

Siteminis’ mobile-optimized websites offer a variety of marketing and branding capabilities, from full graphics capabilities and streaming media to “enabled” coupons and point-of-sale interactive sessions. For more information or a Siteminis demonstration, call 770-579-8898 or visit www.siteminis.com.

About Siteminis

Founded in 2007, Atlanta-based Siteminis, Inc. offers one of the only mobile Web site platforms that can be deployed across every Web-enabled cell phone and all popular smartphone operating systems such as iPhone, Android, Palm, Nokia, Blackberry, and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile. Siteminis develops and integrates profitable mobile e-commerce and informational Web sites that simplify the IT deployment and brand design issues faced by companies doing business on the Internet today. The firm provides M-Commerce technology and consulting services that radically improve, simplify and increase a company's mobile marketing and branding exposure to attract and engage mobile consumers. For more information, please visit www.siteminis.com, call 678-222-3445 or email info@siteminis.com.