Topshop is soon to launch a dedicated mobile site and iPad and iPhone apps, but said it was already seeing 8% of all online sales come via the mobile channels.Arcadia-owned high street fashion brand Topshop is seeing a higher proportion of sales via mobile than the average for retailers, after mobile sales grew by three to four times this year.

Kate Walmsley, head of ecommerce at Topshop, said, “Eight percent of sales are coming through mobile, if you include iPad in there, which is three or four times what it was last year. It’s pretty strong growth, so we are recognising that its as really important channel for us.”

Online retail trade body IMRG said it sees an average of 3-4% (of total ecommerce sales) coming from mobile among its membership but that Topshop’s lead in this space was less surprising given the high street behemoth’s younger audience.

David Smith, managing director of IMRG, said, “Eight percent is high but it’s not much of a surprise given its [Topshop’s] target demographic,” he said.

Smith also said that although deliberations over whether or not sales on tablet devices qualify as m-commerce revenues, the IMRG included tablet sales in its definition of mobile. “It’s a tricky one, tablet users are marginally more likely to complete a purchase,” he said. “But you see the majority of sales [both on tablets and on smartphones] are completed in home rather than when people are on the move.”

Smith also noted that many IMRG members are interested in using tablet devices in-store in a bid to either boost data capture or bolster ecommerce sales.

Among Topshops’ recent stream of mobile initiatives launched in the past quarter, it has tied mobile to in-store locations, using a location-based marketing initiative with mobile gaming service SCVNGR.

The game, aimed at students, rewarded check-ins and the completions of challenges with competition entry, free gifts and discounts.
 
So far, the campaign on SCVNGR has seen over 1,686 challenges completed and 110,057 points redeemed.