South Africa’s YouDeal, a distributor-to-consumer marketplace launched in 2010 has today launched a mobile site to reach out to the increasing mobile population, as use of smartphones and mobile devices increase in South Africa.
Working in partnership with Syncrony, a web design, content management services and custom web development firm, the OnTheInternet Group (parent firm for YouDEAL.co.za), has launched a responsive mobi site at YouDEAL.mobi website to meet a growing requirement for the ability to shop on the move using tablets and smart phones.
“The key design decision when developing a mobile version of an existing website is to either develop a monolithic system that is responsive across all viewing platforms or develop separate desktop and mobile versions.” says Dr Howard Rybko, CEO of Syncrony.
In this case, Syncrony chose to develop a separate mobile version that would plug-in to a shared back-end shopping cart and payment system. Both versions also share product info and images as well as other static content.
Shoppers are given a cohesive experience using central user accounts, allowing a user to switch seamlessly between desktop and mobile access.
Both the mobi and the desktop versions of the YouDEAL store run on the latest social enabled version of the DotNetNuke (DNN) platform. DNN offers a deep social fabric that facilitates the creation and deployment of social collaboration and community for customers, partners and employees.
“A mobi site must be easy to use and navigate. It should be responsive, depending on which device is used to view the site,” says Rybko.
For organisers and management behind YouDEAL, the investment in Syncrony and its mobi development expertise has already paid off. The first mobi sale on YouDEAL was acquired in the first hour of launching the mobi site. Currently YouDEAL.mobi accounts for about 10% of YouDEAL’s orders.
“We are very impressed with the site and the work that Syncrony has done in ensuring the transfer of mobi value to our client base. It helps to strengthen our position in what is a very competitive space,” says Leeandra Moodaley Operations Manager at YouDEAL.
YouDeal offers close-out, overstock, b-stock and refurbished merchandise to both consumers and businesses through a trusted auction style and fixed price format on brand names spanning over many categories including: musical instruments, consumer products, live sound, recording, softwares, dj gear, lighting & staging and video products and an opportunity to bid on or buy a wide variety of popular brand names such as: Audio-Technica, Shure, Alesis, Stanton, EAW, Numark, Wharfedale, Pioneer, Rode, Harman-Kardon, Line 6, Chauvet, JBL, Antari, M-Audio, Martin, QSC, Digiflex, Novation, Clavia, Allen & Heath, Cerwin Vega and much more at significant discounted prices between 30% to 80% off.