Toy company Mattel launched its first ever mobile-optimized website on June 26, says Andres Amezquita, VP of e-commerce at Mattel.
“We see that more and more shoppers are researching on the mobile phones,” Amezquita says. “We know they use it in the store. That’s really the objective.” Mattel worked with Usablenet to build their mobile site, he says, adding that the mobile site focuses on reviews and ratings intended to help customers get more information about specific products. “We were very selective,” Amezquita says. “We tried to keep it simple and intuitive.”
Mattel developed the mobile site after company executives noticed increased e-commerce traffic from mobile devices, he says, declining to specify how much of the total e-commerce traffic and sales occur on mobile devices. He states it is a small percentage.
The mobile site isn’t built for m-commerce, Amezquita says, because it’s designed mostly as a research tool for parents already at a retail location looking to purchase a Barbie or Hot Wheels car or other Mattel product. Mattel’s e-commerce site intended for tablets and computers is more optimized for sales, he says.
Mattel’s mobile site strips out features from the main site that aren’t conducive to its research-oriented goals. For instance, the design-your-own-Barbie feature on the company’s main site is absent from the mobile site because it wasn’t relevant to users on that device. However, all of Mattel’s products present on the main site are present on the mobile site as well. “Everything that’s sold on our e-commerce store is on the mobile site,” Amezquita says.
