The company tapped Usablenet to power its mobile initiative. Usablenet also powers mobile sites for Mattel brands such as Barbie Collector, Fisher-Price and American Girl.

“Moms in particular depend on the internet for convenient purchasing, in fact Nielsen found that moms are 50 percent more likely to purchase toys online,” said Carin Van Vuuren, chief marketing officer of Usablenet.

“In an effort to engage with this growing customer-base Mattel teamed up with Usablenet to launch Mattel Shop on mobile,” she said. “After the great successes of the Barbie Collector, Fisher Price and American Girl mobile sites, Mattel wanted to create another platform for their customers to interact with the Mattel brand.

“Mattel’s site provides customers with the most seamless browsing and shopping experience by enabling their customers to easily browse products, share information with their networks and quickly navigate to the products and pages of interest.”

Mattel Inc. http://www.mattel.com designs, manufacturers and markets toys and family products.

Mobile fun
The Mattel mobile site features product listings that can be sorted and refined by age, brand and price.

Consumers can also browse ratings and reviews to see what others are saying about each product.

Similar to other mobile sites out there, Mattel has included a Store Finder feature that uses the device’s GPS-enabled technology to help consumers find the nearest retail location.

The Mattel mobile site also includes a PayPal mobile express checkout that helps consumers speed up the shopping process.

Past endeavors
The toy giant is not stranger to mobile.

Earlier this year, Mattel rolled out a mobile site for its Monster High brand that features 3D graphics and entices users to show off their school spirit.

Users can access the site by entering m.monsterhigh.com on their mobile browser (see story).

“Mobile commerce is growing exponentially and it is no longer enough for brands to create a basic mobile site,” Ms. Van Vuuren said. “Today, brands must understand that each channel in the customer journey serves a specific purpose to promote the customer’s shopping experience.

“For example, businesses are integrating social throughout the mobile platform in an effort to amplify the impact of a customer’s network and extend the reach of their social shares,” she said.

“Looking forward, we expect to see more brands implement mobile strategies that leverage social tools throughout the entire sales cycle.”

Final Take
Rimma Kats is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York