RS Components launches mobile website access

The RS Mobile service is easy to access; customers just enter rswww.com into their phone’s browser. The service is specifically designed to be viewed on any web enabled PDA, cellular device or web tablet.

Ordering products is simple and secure. Customers can search and browse for products, regardless of whether the part number is already known and add them to a shopping cart as the correct items are found. If a customer is already a registered user on the RS website they are able to log in and place an order on the mobile site. Alternatively, once the products are found the customer can click the ‘Call RS Orders’ link at the bottom of any page. Their mobile device will then dial the RS orders line enabling the order to be placed verbally.

RS created this new service to help its increasing customers, especially maintenance engineers, who are constantly on the move and have limited access to a PC or catalogues. This new service means maintenance engineers are now able to search for the product they need and place an order wherever they are. With over 2,000 products added monthly to the RS portfolio this means the engineers can keep updated on the latest additions even when they are on the move.

“Our focus is to make our customers’ jobs easier,” explains Nik Patel, RS Marketing Manager for e-commerce. “We’ve referenced the best mobile sites to develop the new service, making sure we make the most effective use of the screen space.”

RS is the first business-to-business distributor to offer this mobile service, giving users access to over 250,000 products in the palm of their hand. The service, which goes live today, is available across 80 countries, in 17 languages. “RS Mobile is an innovative new service that marks a great breakthrough in our e-commerce strategy. Communication companies are working very hard to make the mobile internet more accessible and useful. The likelihood that a customer will use a mobile device to access the internet grows with every new device and with the increasing adoption of existing and faster standards such as GPRS and 3G,” underlines RS General Manager, Paul Quested.

There are increasing signs that mobile internet access will supersede traditional PC access. The penetration rates across Europe are higher than expected, with 13% of the UK population, 12% in Italy, 10% in France, 8% in Germany regularly accessing the internet on a mobile device. Most analysts forecast an increase in mobile access of 20% by 2009.