The new mobile experience

With the space growing at such an increasing rate, it’s no longer an added bonus to allow your consumers to buy from you in that space--it’s a necessity.

According to IBM’s Digital Analytics Benchmark findings, mobile shopping accounted for nearly 35 percent of all online traffic during the 2013 holiday period, while mobile sales also were strong, reaching 17 percent of all online sales and increasing a total of 46 percent year-over-year.

One New York-based e-commerce startup, Chloe + Isabel, is finding a way to capitalize on this trend as well as provide extra value, launching a new mobile shopping experience that is meant to mimic a trunk show.

It creates “a virtual party that echoes the social interactions of an in-person event,” the company said, allowing merchants that sell through the site to connect with shoppers across the country at the same time.

The sellers can select the jewelry that they want to present during the trunk show on their mobile devices and then select the start time.

When the event goes live, customers can sign on through their phones or tablets to shop. The platform also allows users to chat with each other, share wish lists, purchase jewelry and invite friends to join through email, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter, increasing the reach of the event.

“When developing the tools for the mobile event experience, it was important to look at what makes in-person parties successful. This experience mimics those interactions while updating the event model to reflect the digital savvy Millennial,” Chloe + Isabel CEO and Founder Chantel Waterbury said.

But why use the website instead of creating an application, or app, to initially host the sales?

Waterbury recently told TechCrunch that the site’s sellers wanted an HTML platform instead of an app because it would load more quickly, be easier to share through social media and not take up space on their smartphones, though the company noted that it soon will launch an app as well.

I think this is a great idea, and I was struck by not only how innovative it was, but also how a model like this can be adapted to other businesses.

It serves as a great example of how to fit in the space and provide not only a place for them to add products to their cart and check out, but to extend your customer service