Mobile crucial for retailers

During the sixth World Retail Congress held in London this week, leading retailers were

in agreement that going mobile is crucial to the success of any retailer. Both Asos boss Nick Robertson and US retail group HSN chief executive Mindy Grossmann stressed the importance of this channel.

"My advice would be think mobile as that's where people are looking for everything. It's the go-to device," said Grossman. "If you're not mobile first, you've lost the most important point of connection." Robertson told the audience that the young generation of shoppers 'have been brought up in a digital world. If you ask how much of their clothes they buy online it's 30, 40, 50 percent." He also said that shoppers are looking to one-stop-shop sites, like Amazon and eBay, to make their purchases. "People aren't going to use 15 to 20 sites in one sitting; they will migrate to biggest ones where they can get everything."

While addressing worries about the slowdown in luxury sales, US luxury retailer Saks Inc.'s chief executive Stephen Sandove also concluded that the internet is becoming increasingly important. According to Sandove, luxury consumers want to be able to buy products 'anywhere, anytime' and pointed out that consumers are likely to buy 'three to four times as much product if they're buying across different channels'.