The Container Store Launches an Upgraded Mobile Experience in Partnership With Usablenet

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Jun 13, 2013) -  The Container Store^® has launched an upgraded mobile web experience in partnership with Usablenet, the leading mobile and multichannel technology provider. The refreshed site was designed to give users a seamless, innovative next-generation mobile shopping experience.

In the past year, mobile site traffic to The Container Store increased 62%, with further growth anticipated for 2013. Recognizing the importance of an engaging mobile experience, The Container Store sought to make more features from the desktop site available on mobile. The retailer wanted to also strengthen visual navigation and social integration, offering customers a more engaging experience overall. The new mobile experience is backed by U-Control, Usablenet's content-publishing tool which allows The Container Store to quickly refresh site banners, mobile promotions, and navigational icon links. This unmatched agility, speed, and flexibility in bringing new content to market represents the most innovative technology for mobile commerce and mobile marketing executives.

Next-generation features of The Container Store's upgraded mobile web experience include:

• Visual Navigation: The refreshed homepage features navigational icons that link to specific product categories and features that, despite limited screen real estate, allow for a great deal of content to be presented to the customer in a visually compelling way.
• Comprehensive Social Integration: Ability to share products across Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and other social networks, as well a dynamic overlay that showcases The Container Store's own Twitter feed, with associated promotions and brand information without requiring additional page loads.
• Advanced Mini-Cart: At any point in the browsing journey, customers can access items in their cart via an overlay that does not navigate away from the page they are on. From there, they can choose to proceed to a streamlined checkout or to return to the page they are browsing.
• Mobile Hot-Spot Technology: The addition of shoppable hotspots on banner images enables The Container Store to highlight a greater number of products and provide customers with suggestions on related items they might also like to purchase.
• Ratings and Reviews: In addition to reading reviews, customers can also write reviews and rate products directly from their mobile phones.

"Our goal with this updated mobile site is to offer our loyal shoppers a deeply engaging and socially integrated experience with our brand," said Jessica Coogan, Online Marketing Director for The Container Store. "Usablenet's technology allowed us to implement features previously found only on the desktop site -- such as banners and homepage icons -- that we can switch out at a moment's notice to constantly provide customers with new, real-time items and special deals. We are pleased with the site's enhanced navigation functionalities and anticipate strong growth in mobile traffic and conversion as a result."

"The Container Store recognizes the importance of mobile in engaging customers and keeping the brand relevant," said Carin van Vuuren, CMO of Usablenet. "In doing so, they wanted a mobile site which gives customers more control over how they can browse, shop, and share. In short, The Container Store wanted to make the mobile experience as personalized as possible. We're proud to be a partner and to help achieve their business and brand goals on mobile."

About Usablenet
Usablenet is a global technology leader for mobile and omnichannel customer engagement. Usablenet's powerful platform enables leading companies in all sectors to create compelling experiences for their customers across multiple channels, including mobile, tablet, social, and in-store kiosks. Usablenet has created innovative m-commerce sites and dynamic omnichannel experiences for a broad range of industry leaders including Hilton, Hyatt, Best Western, American Airlines, US Airways, JetBlue, and Expedia. For more information, visit us online at www.usablenet.com or on Twitter @Usablenet.

About The Container Store
Founded in 1978, Dallas-based The Container Store is the nation's originator and leading retailer of storage and organization products, offering more than 10,000 innovative solutions designed to save space and time. The retailer couples its one-of-a-kind product collection with expert customer service delivered by its highly-trained organization experts. Learn more about The Container Store's employee-first culture, atypical approach to business and commitment to their communities on its blog at standfor.containerstore.com. Visit containerstore.com for more information about store locations, the product collection and services offered. 2012 Fiscal year sales were $706 million. The Container Store is privately held.