by Scott Todaro, Demandware Product Strategy

I recently purchased a shiny new iPhone 4. The first thing I noticed after I took the iPhone out of the box was the stunning 960x640 resolution display on the device. You actually couldn’t see the individual pixels on the 3.5 inch screen, it was that tight. It got me thinking about my laptop from 2001 and its 800x600 resolution on a 12” screen. Take a second to ponder that reality, the iPhone 4 has a better screen resolution than a device that was supposedly optimized for Web browsing and shopping only nine years ago.

Why is this significant? The answer is simple – the more pixels, the more content a retailer can get on a web page. The more content available to the consumer like product details, images and customer reviews, the better the shopping experience. The better the experience, the more likely the consumer will be enticed to make purchases from a mobile device. Even with the high resolution laptop screens available today, retailers still leverage features like zoom to improve conversion. Many mobile browsers offer the ability to zoom in on an image for more detail. As these rich website capabilities are transferred to the mobile devices, the willingness of consumers to transact should increase.

Below is an example comparing the sharpness of the web content on the iPhone 3Gs (1/4 the number pixels) to the iPhone 4G. There is an obvious advantage in clarity that the iPhone 4 owner enjoys over the 3Gs when viewing product images and text.

This retina pleasing trend does not end with the latest installment of the iPhone as almost all Google and Windows Mobile smartphones hitting the market today carry a minimum screen resolution of 800x480. I recently learned that the next release of the Google Android OS (codename Gingerbread) will accommodate resolutions of 1280X760 on devices with screens larger than 4 inches. When does it end?

Large high resolution screens or not, data shows that consumers are willing to shop on a mobile phone for non-digital items like apparel, health and beauty, sporting goods equipment, consumer electronics, and books. Forrester states that 2% of overall online revenue is coming from mobile devices at retailers that have live mobile storefronts or native mobile applications. For more Forrester data on mobile adoption and a mobile case study on Barney’s New York, download the recorded webinar.

By Adam Forrest, Demandware Product Marketing 

How manufacturers can tap the awesome potential of ecommerce to drive cross-channel sales.

Another successful webinar, thanks to great content and participation from Sucharita Mulpuru, VP Research and Principle Analyst, Forrester Research and Chris Ladd, VP Global Retail, Crocs. Demandware has a knack for helping branded manufacturers sell online by not only providing a great eCommerce platform, but also providing research and data to accompany the industry. If you missed the webinar be sure to watch the recorded version or download the slides from our resource center.

Sucharita set the stage with staggering figures about the impact of manufacturer's website on the online and offline channels. The image below is one of her slides and I will do my best to walk you through it, but definitely not as eloquently as she did (for that you will have to watch the recorded version here.) Here we go...follow the dotted lines below. Of the entire US Population of 300 million people, 59% have shopped online (far left bar), that 59% or 177 million people spend $150 billion annually online excluding travel as Forrester Research reports. And now it starts to get more interesting, of the $150 billion spent online, 45% or $67.5 billion is spent on manufacturers' direct to consumer ecommerce sites or influenced by manufacturers' websites online. Interestingly enough the percentage of people who actually shop manufacturers' websites (38% or 67.2 million people) does not correlate with the amount of revenue spent - making it very easy to see that these shoppers while fewer are more loyal and spend more on branded goods. And further research has shown that these manufacturer websites influences a total of $200 billion in revenue, and as Sucharita put it that's "no small chump change."

This is just one of a deck of 30 amazing slides Sucharita discussed....spend the time to view the entire webinar, it is worth it.

As if this market data was not enough, we had the luxury of having Chris Ladd, VP Global Retail, Crocs speak next to give some real world advice from one branded manufacturer to another. Chris walked through a list of "10 tips" to help guide others to ecommerce success. Crocs, a Demandware customer, is operating 23 international websites and is actively expanding into the Asia market as we speak. But before they were able to have so much success, Chris and his team at Crocs followed these "Ten Tips."

1. Create a good sales plan and role for the site/store.
2. Find an Executive Sponsor.
3. Build a robust consumer database; capture at all touch points.
4. Educate people on the advantages of growing your eCommerce business.
5. Product is King. Treat your website like another store.
6. Find ways to partner with your wholesale & distributor partners.
7. Consider outsourcing certain components of the eCommerce business.
8. Create your own marketing budget.
9. Consider going global.
10. Establish a pricing & promotions committee.

Each of Chris' points had a plethora of information supporting it and great anecdotes from his experience at Crocs, Titleist, and Reebok. I would highly encourage everyone to listen to the full webinar to here all the details provided.

Thank you again to Sucharita, Chris, and all those who attended yesterday...we look forward to seeing you all again real soon.