Spreadshirt to invest 3 million in developing e-commerce

Spreadshirt, the e-commerce platform which enables people to

create, sell and purchase ideas surrounding merchandising, has revealed a 3 million euro investment to update its e-commerce platform and roll-out touch-optimizations.

This decision comes after visits in the UK to the Spreadshirt site doubled through touch-screen devices during the holiday period and orders tripled. The company first launched its touch-optimized T-shirt designer during the second half of 2013 and since then has witnesses 300 percent increase in traffic from touch-screen devices.

The online company first saw an increase in visitor traffic through touch-screen devices during Christmas 2012, when lead to the launch of its touch-screen optimized T-shirt designer. Then in 2013 Spreadshirt witnessed five times more orders being made via touch-screen devices compared to 2013, with tablet traffic increasing more rapidly than smartphone traffic.

“Online shopping is entering a new chapter. Browsing on a touch screen is now a key part of the research phase of a purchase, which is then completed on a desktop,” commented Philip Rooke, CEO of Spreadshirt.

“15 percent of our sales started with browsing on touch screen devices in 2013 and we’re expecting that to rise to 25 percent this year. The touch screen stage tends to be more social, it’s where people share ideas and look for inspiration, as well as compare products and prices. If online retailers do not provide a suitable browsing experience for this pre-sale research phase, they risk losing the customer altogether,” added Rooke.

New changes to be rolled out on the Spreadshirt platform include the launch of landscape and desktop versions of the touch-optimized T-shirt designer, a renewed marketplace where designers can feature their work, improves product information pages and the launch of touch-screen friendly websites for Spreadshirt partners.