Formalwear marketplace Queenly had an iPhone app before it ever had a website, says Kathy Zhou, chief technology officer and co-founder.   

That’s because its target customers, and online shoppers as a whole, look to their smartphones first when they’re shopping online, Zhou says. Since its launch in 2019, Queenly has added a website and Android app.  

Now, about 60% of Queenly.com’s web traffic is from shoppers on mobile devices, according to web measurement vendor Similarweb Ltd. On average per month in 2023, Queenly has 37,900 visits via mobile devices, and 22,000 visits on desktops.  

“The world has turned to using their phones way more than their desktops,” Zhou says.   

Because most shoppers shop with Queenly through its app, the marketplace’s technology team based its website design off what worked in the app, and continues to do so today, Zhou says.   

Before redesigning features or making updates to the website, Queenly A/B tests the user experience in the iOS app, Zhou says. This way, shoppers have similar experiences no matter where they shop, Zhou says.   

“Designs like our homepage trending sections are first tested to ensure that redesigns lead to positive engagement metrics,” she says.   

Queenly’s site also adapted its seller-focused features that first debuted in the app, such as seller-paid free shipping, for the website.   

“When you access the website on your phone, it translates very similarly to what it might feel and look like on a native iOS or Android app,” she says.   

Queenly uses a responsive design that adapts to the size of the screen on which the shopper is viewing the site.