Women’s fashion retailer Jigsaw has launched a transactional mobile site at m.jigsaw online.com. Designed and powered by YOC, the site enables consumers to use their smartphones to buy clothes or learn more about the latest fashion trends while they are on the go.

Jigsaw has seen a growing volume of traffic coming to its website from mobile devices over the past few years. Its web stats also revealed that many consumers who were accessing the Jigsaw PC website via a mobile browser were leaving the site immediately, as it was not optimised for mobile. Not only was this presenting consumers with a negative brand experience, but Jigsaw was also missing out on the growing commercial opportunity which the mobile traffic presented.

Jigsaw turned to YOC to develop an mCommerce site that would reflect their brand values and be usable on all mobile devices. It also wanted the site to be delivered quickly and with a minimal requirement to engage their own IT resources.

The site provides easy navigation through Jigsaw’s complete product range and enables a full mCommerce experience. The YOC Multi Channel Platform optimises content to over 14,000 browsing devices available in the market. All device attributes (up to 180 per device) including screen resolution, OS, touch features, connection type and script support are accounted for within the platform. The platform is updated with new devices daily, as they are launched into the market by handset manufacturers.

The site was built using YOC’s dynamic proxy transcoding (scraping) technology. This eliminated the need for complex API integrations, keeping costs and timelines to a minimum. Users looking for a specific product can search in different categories such as bags or dresses. If they would like to know more about a specific item, a dress for example, they can click on the photo and will get more details, pictures, videos and information on matching clothes and similar alternative products.

Users are automatically presented with the nearest Jigsaw store to their GPS location on the home page and can click through to a map showing how to get to the store. Social networking links are also integrated throughout the site. Redirects are in place to take all consumers who try to access the Jigsaw desktop site from a mobile device straight into the new mobile site.

“It was a no brainer to mobilise our eCommerce proposition,” says Jigsaw’s Paul Owers. “Research showed there was considerable existing demand to engage with our brand through the mobile channel, and that this was only going to grow over the coming years. We needed a partner with the right technology to deliver the solution we required, and with people who showed they could understand the values and aspirations of our brand. YOC proved the right partner on both fronts, and have delivered the solution we wanted. We’re already seeing new revenue from the mobile channel and look forward to growing mobile into a core retail channel over the coming years.”