Nordstrom's e-commerce sales are strong thanks to heavy mobile investment (JWN)

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "E-Commerce Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.Luxury department store Nordstrom reported strong e-commerce sales growth in its Q2 2016 earnings report,even as the company saw an overall decline in total sales. Strong mobile engagement, which is outpacing desktop, was largely behind the e-commerce results.Total sales for Nordstrom during Q2 2016 reached $3.5 billion, marking a 1.2% year-over-year (YoY) decline.However, total sales for Nordstrom.com grew 9.4% YoY to reach $683 million.Furthermore, total sales for Nordstrom's off-price retail site and its flash-sale site HauteLook grew nearly 35% YoY to total $157 million.Nordstrom's strong e-commerce performance was driven by a heavy focus on its mobile tools and engaging customers on their smartphones.The company focused on its mobile app performance during Q2, adding a visual search function and letting customers shop from specific store locations.This fall, Nordstrom will be testing a mobile feature that allows shoppers to reserve merchandise at a Nordstrom location, and then try it on in-store before making a purchase. The emphasis on Nordstrom's app and mobile browser has propelled m-commerce to outpace desktop sales for some time now, according toco-president and director Erik B. Nordstrom.Nordstrom could leverage its Nordstrom Rewards program to push mobile engagement even further.The Nordstrom Rewards program was expanded during Q2 to allow shoppers to earn rewards and points every time they shop, even without using a Nordstrom credit card. The company now boasts 6 million Rewards members. Shoppers can already access their Nordstrom Rewards accounts on the mobile app, but this can be leveraged to increase m-commerce sales even further.One way to do this would be to provide exclusive access to promotions and new clothing lines to Rewards members within the mobile app. This could help encourage shoppers to keep using the app and make future purchases.To receive stories like this one directly to your inbox every morning, sign up for the E-Commerce Briefing newsletter.Click here to learn more about how you can gain risk-free access today.Join the conversation about this story
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