Chefs Catalog, an online kitchenware retailer, has added another ingredient to its sale recipe with the recent debut of its mobile commerce site.

Chefs Catalog has seen limited traffic from mobile devices to its e-commerce site, itself refreshed with better images earlier this year, but expects that traffic to grow, says Dan Jones, Chefs Catalog chief marketing officer. “Chefs Catalog believes the new mobile site will have a positive impact on traffic growth,” Jones says.

The site’s home page features an automatically changing product shot, with buttons to advance to the next or previous image  in a red bar beneath the images. A short list follows for consumers to tap on links for New, Sale, Customer Favorites, Browse Categories, Browse Brands, Gift Ideas and Special Offer items. A search box sits at the top of the page with a special code for free shipping above the box.

Selecting a product category produces a scrollable page of product lists, complete with an image of each product with its price and consumer ratings. Other features of the m-commerce site include the ability to share selections via Facebook and e-mail.

Chefs Catalog chose a mobile commerce site over an app because the site enables consumers to use a broader array of devices to view the site, and does not require building a separate app for each device. Smartphones, such as the iPhone, BlackBerry and those using Android software, require developers to use unique programming languages for each app version. Creating a site typically does not impose such requirements.

“Chefs Catalog first chose to move in the direction of a mobile-optimized web site as part of  our mobile strategy, as mobile represents a huge part of the way consumers are discovering, buying and interacting with retailers today,” Jones says. Digby, which hosts technology on the Internet that runs mobile web sites and apps for retailers, developed the site with Chefs Catalog.