Though load time has improved, Keynote Systems points out the need for better successful loading.

Keynote Systems has released its most recent Mobile Commerce Index report, which has revealed that the Victoria’s Secret Direct homepage was only capable of loading successfully at a rate of 97.79 percent.

This has been holding the company back on the index despite its rapid load time.

Last week, the mobile commerce index granted Victoria’s Secret its last possible position out of 30 due to its poor performance. However, this most recent week, which ended on January 20, it rose by nine places to reach the 21 spot. This improvement was almost entirely because of the improvements that were made to the load time on its homepage. Though the percentage of time that the page was able to completely load successfully, it is still far below the average on the index.

Keynote believes that site could still make a number of considerable mobile commerce performance improvements.

In this, Keynote Systems stated that the retailer should focus its attention on improving the mobile commerce site’s ability to successfully load. It did, however, acknowledge the better results when compared to the week before.

The week that ended on January 13 showed that the load time for the Victoria’s Secret homepage was 7.64 seconds. Its success rate was 97.45 percent. When that data was combined into the mobile commerce index at Keynote, it generated a low 391 point score out of 1,000 possible points.

However, during the week ending on January 20, the load time improved to 7.36 seconds, and the successful load rate etched up slightly to 97.79 percent. The result from that data mix on the index gave Victoria’s Secret a mobile commerce score of 719, which was a vast improvement.

Equally, though, while the load time – which is considerably better than the index average of 9.19 seconds – was very positive, it was the percentage of successful loads that held the site back from a significantly higher potential score. Keynote considers 99 percent or better to be the optimal range. The most recent index average was 98.77 percent. This placed Victoria’s Secret’s website far below the mark that should be its mobile commerce site target.

Macy’s finds success through focus on mobile space

Retail giant Macy’s has been working to engage mobile consumers in a more dynamic way recently. The retailer has seen its customers evolve over the years, with more people becoming apt to use their mobile devices to shop and make purchases. At times, these consumers have been difficult to appeal to because of the lack of mobile services the retailer employed in the past. Over the past two years, however, Macy’s has established a strong grip on mobile consumers and continues to look for ways to engage these people with the services they have come to expect from the retailer.

QR codes and application overhaul provide better service to consumers

In the months leading up to the 2012 holiday shopping season, Macy’s began to use QR codes to direct consumers to digital content that could be found on the retailer’s mobile website. The company also launched a major overhaul of its mobile application, updating the platform to be more accommodating of mobile commerce. Macy’s saw 44% of the applications existing users download the updated version of the application before Black Friday last year. The overhaul spurred a 19% growth in the application’s user base.

Mobile commerce proves popular

In the retailer’s 39,000-square-foot store in Herald Square, New York City, store associates make use of mobile devices to provide information to customers concerning inventory and particular, often difficult to find, items. These devices are also used to process mobile payments. Macy’s recently began accepting mobile payments made through the use of Google Wallet and the retailer is part of a pilot project for Isis, one of the main competitors of Google Wallet, in Utah and Texas.

Macy’s finds balance in mobile focus

Macy’s has positioned itself to take advantage of the growing interest consumers are showing in mobile commerce. The retailer has managed to make itself stand out from amongst the competition by finding ways to engage mobile consumers and, more importantly, direct them to physical stores throughout the country. A focus on mobile consumers has, in the past, backfired for many retailers, leading many consumers to stop coming to physical stores. Macy’s seems to have found the appropriate balance to avoid this pitfall.