A recent comScore study revealed that mobile phones and tablets now account for 1 in 8 U.S. Internet page views, further indicating that mobile is becoming an increasingly popular way for consumers to connect with businesses when they are away from their desktops.
This is especially true for consumers who are trying to find local businesses, such as places to eat, while on the go. Popular online reservation platform OpenTable has taken note of this trend, and is now offering a new service that optimizes its clients websites for mobile devices - for free.
The new service, powered by DudaMobile, is said to be easy to implement, while making a client's website more user-friendly - without sacrificing the branding of the restaurant's desktop website.
"More than ever diners are seeking information about restaurants and booking reservations on the go, yet the vast majority of restaurant websites are not designed for mobile use," said Matt Roberts, Chief Executive Officer of OpenTable. "Our goal is to make it easier for restaurants to reap the benefits from the shift toward mobile by removing the friction associated with creating and hosting mobile-friendly sites."
To further prove that mobile has made a huge impact in the restaurant industry, OpenTable claims that 28 percent of the 28 million diners that the company seated in North America booked their reservations on mobile devices in the second quarter of 2012. Additionally, OpenTable has seated more than 30 million diners through reservations booked on mobile devices since November 2008, which represents more than $1 billion in revenue for OpenTable's restaurant clients.
OpenTable's restaurant clients in the U.S., Canada and the UK can leverage this free service by claiming their mobile site through the OpenTable Restaurant Center before February 1, 2013.