Every year, Fortune Magazine ranks the top 100 companies in the United States by revenue. At Pervasive, we took look at these companies to see which ones “get” mobile. By “get” we simply mean which of the Fortune 100 (F100) provides the following:
- Does the company have a mobile friendly Website?
- Does the Website auto-detect if you are viewing from a laptop/desktop (PC) or a mobile Web browser? For example, some sites, such as Amazon.com, will automatically detect what type of device you are using and present the Website based on the device capabilities. Try viewing Amazon using a PC and then visit the site on a Blackberry, Windows 7, iPhone or Android. See the difference?
- Does the F100 Company offer online ordering for consumers (think BestBuy)? And if so, does it offer mobile friendly online ordering?
Mobile Friendly
While our research is fairly straightforward, the results tell an interesting story. Of the F100, only 41% have a mobile friendly Website.
Most of the 41 Websites that “get” mobile detect a mobile device and appropriately present a mobile friendly page (a “best practice”). However, some sites do not. For HP.com and UPS.com, you need to add “m.” in front of the address to get the mobile site, e.g. m.ups.com.
In fairness, some of the F100 companies represent parent, or holding companies, rather than the consumer facing entity. For example, Citigroup does not have a mobile friendly Website, but citi.com does. JPMChase.com is not mobile friendly whereas chase.com is a consumer-facing site for online mobile banking. Nonetheless, a majority of the Fortune 100 companies do not have a Website built for the 63 million+ U.S. mobile subscribers with smartphones (1). This number does not include mobile handsets that are not smartphones, but yet can still view Websites. And, the 63 million does not include all the net-new smartphone subscribers in 2011.
For the 59 non-mobile friendly sites, many companies exacerbate the situation by utilizing Adobe Flash on the home page. As you may know, Apple’s iPhone and iPad Web browsers do not support Flash. So, if you are visiting AmerisourceBergen.com, Boeing.com, ConocoPhillips.com, JnJ.com, Kroger.com or LockheedMartin.com on the iPhone, you will notice a huge “blank” space on the Web page. Not very pretty or user friendly. The “blank” space is where the Flash element resides if viewing the Website on a PC. Other companies, such as DuPont and ExxonMobile, use Flash on the PC version of their Website and then present graphical images when detecting an iPhone or iPad.
Fortune 100 – Mobile Friendly Websites by Sector:
| SECTOR |
NO |
YES |
| Basic Materials |
1 |
1 |
| Capital Goods |
8 |
1 |
| Consumer Cyclical |
2 |
2 |
| Consumer NonCyc |
6 |
1 |
| Energy |
8 |
|
| Financial |
12 |
12 |
| Healthcare |
8 |
1 |
| Services |
9 |
14 |
| Technology |
4 |
6 |
| Transportation |
3 |
|
| Utilities |
1 |
|
| Total |
59 |
41 |
Mobile Friendly E-Commerce
Of the Fortune 100 companies, 27 offer online consumer ordering of goods/services. Of these 27, 21 companies provide a mobile friendly ordering experience. Surprisingly, Apple, Microsoft and HP do not.
So, one might ask, “What does it take to build/launch a mobile-friendly site?” Unfortunately, the answer is complicated and depends largely on how the F100 Company manages its Website and related content.
As we have previously mentioned, smart companies are taking a step back and looking at mobile first, and then determining the best way to support the growing channel as well as other digital channels, such as traditional Web and social media sites, in context with the off-line channels. The rationale is basic math – there are 300 million mobile phones in the U.S. (2). Smartphones, today, make up 27% of this number (1).
For those 59 non-mobile friendly sites, you are most likely waiting on the next revision of your Website by marketing or the underlying systems by IT. One near-term solution would be to evaluate Website use/traffic of your site and standup interim mobile friendly pages of the home page and key destinations to better promote your brand and provide a better user experience. According to many forecasts, smartphone adoption in the U.S. will likely exceed 100 million units this year. Will your Website be ready?
(1) comScore, The comScore 2010 Mobile Year in Review, February 2011
(2) Fortune Magazine, 25 July 2011
