Acme Tools has announced that it will be using IBM’s products to make shopping easier for consumers.
Leading authorized tools and equipment retailer, Acme Tools, has recently announced that it has launched the mobile commerce version of its website, to make it easier for consumers to be able to shop for what they need using their smartphones.
This new platform is designed to provide the company’s customers with a seamless shopping experience.
The mobile commerce platform, itself, was developed by BlueSky Technology Partners. It has been created in order to leverage the IMB WebSphere Commerce investments that Acme Tools has already been making for its site on the standard web. The purpose is to make sure that customers will be able to browse, compare, and purchase the products that they want, no matter where they are and what device they prefer.
Mobile commerce traffic and sales are rapidly growing in importance, according to an IBM study.
By the last quarter of last year, smartphone and tablet based traffic was making up almost 35 percent of all traffic that was being generated online. Year over year, this represented an increase of about 40 percent. Furthermore, sales made over these smaller screen devices made up almost 17 percent of all online sales, which represented a year over year increase of 46 percent over 2012’s figures.
The smartphone friendly site was created specifically to help to lower the necessary load time and to help to improve the overall user experience. It was designed to be easier to search, browse, and buy on a device with a small screen, a slower internet connection, and a touch screen keyboard.
Users that are registered with the site will be able to use cross platform features, which include saving to a wish list. This allows people to be able to add items at their convenience, and then checkout later on when they are ready. It also helps to appeal to the many people who like to browse over mobile commerce, but make their final purchase over a desktop or laptop device because of the greater ease of using a keyboard, a larger screen, and greater security.
The company is in direct competition with some of the largest tech players in the world.
Pebble has revealed, by way of its CEO, 27 year old Eric Migicovsky, that it is focusing on a new open wearable technology platform for its smartwatch, setting it in direct competition with some of the largest companies in the world, including Google and Apple.
Migicovsky was an Innovation Summit keynote speaker and discussed the smartwatch and its future.
This mobile technology has already been making considerable headlines after the smartwatch brought in $10.2 million through a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter that was held over thirty days in May 2012. The Palo Alto, California team of 10 employees has since sold tens of thousands of these devices and has carved out a considerable part of this rapidly growing marketplace.
In 2014, alone, there were 400,000 Pebble smartwatch wearable devices sold to consumers.
This year, Pebble anticipates 800,000 smartwatch sales, twice what it achieved last year. The company is now employing 81 people, with 50 at its headquarters in Palo Alto, and the remainder in other locations around the globe.
The Pebble app store was unveiled earlier this year and now includes 2,500 applications for the brand’s smartwatches. This is a major leap forward from a year ago, when the mobile device functions were limited to incoming call and text alerts. The company has recognized the vital importance of the applications and the ecosystem around those mobile apps.
This has led the company to create a serious focus on its wearable technology platform and helping to make certain that it is “what we think is the best possible platform for wearable computing,” Said Migicovsky.
It is designed to be an open platform so that mobile app developers will be able to build upon it. This is a striking direction change for the smartwatch, which had not previously focused on applications. It is also a direct reflection of the company’s intentions to continually evolve and keep up with what this market – which remains in its infancy – wants. The platform itself is cloud enabled, but Migicovsky has explained that the apps use JavaScript coding.
