The Catholic Company, a catalog and e-retailer of Catholic books and gifts, announces the mobile version of its website has been recognized by Internet Retailer as one of the top 10 mobile commerce programs in the magazine?s annual Hot 100 December Issue. Other businesses receiving this award include renowned retail giants like Walgreens, Apple, 1-800-Flowers, Amazon, eBay, ShopNBC, Barnes & Noble, Polo Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger.
?The Catholic Co. demonstrates with a smartly designed m-commerce site that it can stand side by side with the sites of many of its peers, big or small,? wrote Bill Siwicki, Senior Editor at Internet Retailer, in the announcement of the award. ?One of the reasons it has made the top 10 is because it not only produced a site that is clean in design and easy to navigate, but did so, unlike most other players in mobile commerce, in-house. Small retailers can look to Catholic Company as an example of what can be done without a big budget and without the aid of any of the numerous m-commerce technology providers.?
The Catholic Company launched a mobile version of its site, www.catholiccompany.com/mobile, in March 2010. The mobile site is accessible from any mobile web browser and includes access to the company?s 18,000 products via a site search function, images, product ratings and reviews, and a shopping cart. ?We wanted to make all those activities available on the mobile site to give them as close to a full site experience on a mobile platform,? says Nicholas Cole, The Catholic Company?s Director of Marketing. Cole presented at a panel discussion at Internet Retailer?s Mobile Commerce Forum in October, Designing for Mobile: Create a new mobile site or go with your web site?
Every year Internet Retailer ranks the Hot 100 e-retailing web sites, recognizing innovation in online retailing. The aim is to highlight retailers who move the online retailing business to a new level of service, features, functions and online experience. Internet Retailer Magazine is the largest monthly magazine in e-retailing with 44,000 subscribers.