NEW YORK ? An Armstrong Worldwide executive at the Netbiscuits World 2012 conference said that the company is seeing four percent of traffic coming from handsets to the company?s consumer-facing mobile site.

During the ?A Conversation with Armstrong: Implementing a B2C Mobile Web Strategy with Netbiscuits? two company executives spoke about how mobile Web is impacting both the consumer and business side of the company. The session was moderated by Mickey Alam Khan, editor in chief of Mobile Marketer and Mobile Commerce Daily, New York.

?We have to be there, that?s where our customers are,?said Bronwynn March, residential emarketing manager at Armstrong Worldwide, Inc.

?Our product is very visual, so we are able to inspire them with content,? she said.

Armstrong Worldwide designs and manufactures residential and commercial floor, ceilings and cabinets.

Mobile inspiration
Armstrong Worldwide?s residential business covers the consumer-facing business, including floors and ceilings.

The company launched its mobile site in May 2012. When the residential portion of the business saw that mobile traffic was up 300 percent year-over-year, the company realized that it was time to optimize its site.

The company also decided to use a mobile site versus an application because much of the company?s business is made up of one-time users. The company decided to only optimize certain parts of its Web site where users were most likely looking to access optimized information.

For example, the company?s catalog has been mobilized with quick product descriptions that give users information. Additionally, a store locator was also important for the brand to help drive users to a store to find the product.

The company?s mobile site is not commerce-enabled, meaning that it was important to follow the user as closely as possible up until the moment when they enter the store.

The top device driving traffic for the company is Apple?s iPad followed by the iPhone and Android devices.

Tablets in particular are popular with users because the devices lend themselves well to inspiring users for product ideas and home decoration.

Although the mobile site only makes up four percent of traffic on the residential side, overall traffic to the Web site is up 30 percent over last year, meaning that Ms. March believes that mobile is driving more traffic to the company's Web site.

Social media engagement ? in particular sharing ? is also up as a result of the new mobile site, per Ms. March.

In the future, Ms. March would like to see more done to promote the mobile site, such as using in-store QR codes to show users a video with a demonstration with the company's products.

Mobile business
Sally Kresge, emarketing manager at Armstrong Worldwide, Inc. also spoke on the panel about how the commercial side of the business is impacting mobile.

The site also launched in May 2012 and is seeing three percent of traffic being accessed via mobile devices.

From 2010 to 2011, Ms. Kresge said that the company saw a 200 percent increase in mobile traffic, which was the tipping point for the company to develop a mobile site.

Compared to the consumer side of the business, Ms. Kresge said that she is potentially looking at developing an app since her business does have repeat customers.

However, simply building a mobile site is not enough to get the word out.

?The whole theory of build it and they will come is not necessarily true,? Ms. Kresge said.

?We need to do better positioning to drive more traffic to it ? we do auto-direct so if you are trying to get to our site from a mobile device we will take you directly there but we are not auto-directing for tablets,? she said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York