Staples might have the answer to the app vs. mobile site question: do both. In an effort to create a cross-channel experience for its customers, Staples has developed a mobile app designed to support in-store shopping, a mobile site designed for cross-channel shopping, a tablet site, and a tablet app for sales associates to use in stores.
Brian Tilzer, the vice president of global e-commerce at Staples, explained the tablet site as “an app-like web site. We tried to take advantage of the medium.”
At a presentation last week to the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition 2012, Tilzer said the company is looking to triple the size of its e-commerce team by 2014.
“The focus is always on the customer, not the technology,” Tilzer said. “Every small business may be different, but every small business loves easy.”
You can read a full account of Tilzer’s talk at internetretailer.com.
