Dive Brief:

• Legacy retailers have a hard time keeping up with mobile technologies and how they affect marketing, loyalty, sales, and data collection, Ad Age reports. 
• About 95% of retailers surveyed by the National Retail Federation (NRF) now have mobile-optimized sites, but fewer offer a seamless experience across platforms.
• Mobile interactions now beat desktop interactions in terms of the time spent, according to ComScore, 60% to 40%. 

Dive Insight:

Customers want the best, most seamless shopping experience available, but mobile technologies are preventing many legacy retailers from delivering it.  While the vast majority (95%) of retailers now have a mobile-optimized site, NRF says, only eight in 10 offer customers a shopping cart that translates between platforms, and fewer still offer a platform-agnostic loyalty program.

Macy’s, for example, was able to build a commanding desktop presence over time, but mobile adoption has grown faster and more organically. Mobile now edges desktop interaction in terms of time spent 60/40, ComScore data indicates, and apps are starting to dominate the mobile space. Even originally web-only companies such as eyewear retailer Warby Parker face challenges in keeping up with technology — be it mobile or whatever the next platform may be.