Mobile Commerce: What’s Next in the Mobile Retail Revenue World

Introduction

As smartphone ownership continues to grow across the world, mobile commerce is on the rise and it already represents a growing share of consumer spending.
According to the statista, worldwide mobile commerce revenues amounted to 96.34 billion U.S. dollars in 2015 and are expected to exceed approximately 693 billion U.S. dollars in 2019.

However, as per the recent stats, mobile commerce is more than a trend and might be the next big thing in the e-commerce industry. According to Big Commerce, m-ecommerce sales are expected to account for 54 percent of total ecommerce sales by 2021.

What is Mobile Commerce?

Mobile commerce, also refer to as m-commerce or mCommerce is basically an advancement of ecommerce that includes any monetary transaction completed using a mobile device. Mcommerce enables the user to buy products or services from anywhere using mobile devices including a mobile phone or a tablet device.
So M-commerce is the use of mobile devices to do any sort of business transaction – while using the e-commerce background and WAP technology.

However, m-commerce is more than just an advancement of ecommerce.

Ecommerce has already made shopping convenient, however, m-commerce offers better overall experience for customers – without the need of a desktop. Using technologies like augmented reality, Chabot, and messenger apps, it’s easier for businesses to interact with their customers and complement their mobile commerce business

Mobile commerce is on the rise, promising to be a powerful ecommerce force in the year to come.

According to a Deloitte survey, people check their mobile phones for an average of 47 times a day. This stat suggests how big an impact does phones have on people. Businesses can no longer afford not to have a mobile commerce platform and miss out large base of market. With m-commerce and right technologies, you can take your shop to everyone’s phone – accessible everywhere and anytime.

New technologies, like WiMax, is accelerating innovation in mobile commerce. A mobile commerce for your business can offer positive customer experience, easy and repeat purchases, personalized interaction and increased sales.

For now, let’s dive in to learn why mobile commerce is crucial for your business or e-commerce venture.

Mobile Impacts Every Part of the Funnel

There are two types of online shoppers; searchers and browsers. Around 48 percent of shoppers research the product online before purchasing even if buying in a physical store while 44 percent of shoppers use their mobile device to purchase the product.

A recent study says that around 60 percent of customers research products online using their mobile device before later buying the product online or offline. To conclude, mobile devices especially smartphones impact every part of the shopping funnel; right from product research to store visit.

In recent years, mobile commerce has become a major influencer of shoppers’ purchasing. More than half of the global internet traffic now comes from a mobile device. And 62 percent of mobile phone owners use a mobile device to visit physical shops worldwide.

Not only, mobile shopping, mobile commerce has also entered into an array of sectors including finance, telecommunication, retail, information technology, healthcare, sales, and services. Recently, the need for mobile commerce has increased multi-fold. Some of the common benefits of Mobile Commerce are:

1. Better overall experience for customers

As long as your consumers have a mobile device, they can shop wherever they are, whenever they want.

2. Phenomenal growth potential

As traffic coming from mobile devices is increasing significantly, the percentage of that belonging to m-commerce will also continue to grow.

3. An Omni-channel experience

Omni-channel is about being where your customers are and enabling them shop what they want. M-commerce offers a true omni-channel experience, enabling multi-channel marketing and selling.

4. Variety of payment options

With new mobile payment solutions emerging, customers get a diverse range of payment options – making one-click checkouts possible.

M-Commerce is on the Rise, but have Lower Conversion Percentage than E-Commerce

In terms of retail site visits, we all know that mobile phones have successfully overtaken desktop devices.

Business Insider Intelligence estimates that, by 2023, mobile commerce will account for approximately 40 percent of US online sales, totaling $447 billion. And, Adobe projected that 49 percent of holiday shopping traffic in November 2018 went through mobile phones.

However, when it comes to conversion, mobile commerce still lag behind desktop. As per statista, mobile phones accounted for 62 percent of shopping website visits worldwide but only generated 42 percent of shopping revenues.

To cut the chase, conversion rates on desktop consumers are twice that of smartphone consumers. The basic reason is that your shoppers want better experience that pinch and zoom.

“So, although shoppers spend more time accessing the internet on mobile than any other device, online businesses aren’t able to convert them. Mobile sites need to improve beyond responsive to boost their ability to convert. Here’s how to do mobile well:

1. Opt for mobile-first approach as stacking up the elements on the page and making them tinier won’t work.
2. Take care of your page load time to 1.6 seconds as none of your shoppers will wait until the page finally loaded. Instead they will shop from somewhere else, from a better alternative.
3. Use up-to-date technologies to improve the user experience such as the capacity to share the product in a click – via messenger app or social media.
4. Offering inspiring homepage features and an easy-to-use menu
5. Keep the mobile platform as functional as your desktop one. Never reduce the features you offer on mobile – it’s so old fashion.
6. Don’t make your consumers scroll indefinitely to find a product. Keep your mobile-site search instantly accessible.
7. Your consumers use mobile devices of different sizes, so think of all when preparing for mobile commerce
8. Make sure that your site and products are visible when consumers search using mobile browsers

Is Your E-commerce ready for M-commerce?

If your website is mobile responsive and is accessible on mobile devices, that necessary doesn’t mean that it your online business is ready for mobile commerce.

DynamicYield states that, “Only 12 percent of customers find shopping on the mobile web convenient”. That suggests a lot needs to be done to improve the user experience for mobile commerce. Or, you could be missing out on a lot of sales.

Even if your customers are in a physical brick-and-mortar store, mobile is influencing their buying decisions.

Now that you know the importance and sales capacity of mobile commerce, are you ready to refine your business strategy and see more conversions, sales, and customers?

If you want to build a mobile commerce platform, get in touch with our team. Our experts will guide and help you build the best M-commerce for you and your business.