10:29 pm, July 30, 2011
MOTORS.co.uk has reported a massive rise in visits to its site and page views from mobile devices.
The firm has seen a 300 per cent increase in visits and a 550 per cent increase in page views from mobile devices in the last 12 months.
iPhone and Android app downloads have also shot up by 66 per cent in the last nine months.
This growth in mobile traffic, says Motors.co.uk, is partly due to a 68 per cent increase year on year in smartphone sales, driven in part by lower average purchase prices and greater availability of these phones on pre-pay.
Smartphone sales now account for 37 per cent of all mobile phone sales and are tipped to reach a critical mass in the next twelve months.
Phill Jones, commercial director at Motors.co.uk , said: ‘Our iPhone, Android and iPad apps, together with our brand new mobile site, continue to contribute response at a fast growing rate – traffic to our site from mobile devices has tripled in the last 12 months. Perhaps more importantly from a dealer perspective, all stock goes onto our mobile site and our apps, at no extra cost.
‘Now is the right time for car dealers to address how best to optimise their websites for use via smartphone browsers. Whilst it is true that these browsers can render most websites usable, a really great mobile site can act as a clear acquisition channel to introduce new users to the desktop site.
Indeed, in a recent survey that we conducted, 85 per cent of respondents said that if they found a really good mobile site then they would check the ‘main’ desktop version of the site.
‘In terms of prioritising mobile and app development to get the most value, it may be tempting to think the world starts and ends with creating an iPhone app. But the real winners over the last year have been Android, who now enjoy a 37 per cent share of new smartphone sales (compared to just 11 per cent a year ago) with BlackBerry (RIM) in second place with 23 per cent and Apple in third with 22 per cent.’
