Columbia Sportswear introduces mobile commerce site

Columbia Sportswear Company launched a mobile commerce site on March 2. The portal, created by e-commerce firm Demandware, is the brand's first foray into mobile.

Columbia's goal is to provide an optimized shopping experience for existing customers, said Paul Zaengle, senior director of e-commerce for the retailer.

“Mobile used to be a fun thing that we talked about as part of the future, but we are noticing that many of our site visits are coming from mobile phones,” he said. “We want to present the brand in the right medium for the customers, so we decided to optimize for mobile.”

The mobile site has all items available on Columbia's e-commerce portal and the same fulfillment system. It also features a store locator, ratings and reviews and a product search tool.

Zaengle said that Columbia stores have kiosks to help customers research products. Using the mobile site, consumers can access the same information on their phones.

“They can just stand in front of a rack of jackets and read reviews about the product right on their phone,” he said.

Columbia launched its first e-commerce site last August. Both portals are the result its partnership with Demandware.

The retailer will promote the mobile portal on its Web site and through in- store signage.