Growth of Mobile Commerce – Retailers

Also, many companies have yet to be convinced that they need a mobile strategy; a recent 2ergo survey found that over 70% of companies surveyed outside our customer base were yet to be convinced they needed a mobile strategy for their business.

This is of particular significance to well-established bricks and mortar stores, especially those who will be seeing a good number of smartphone-using shoppers coming through their doors over the next couple of months.

Now is the time to be embracing mobile and all the things it can do for the retailer, from appointment confirmation, check in, offers, footfall drivers etc…

Within the 30% or so that do have a mobile strategy, the retailers are benefiting from their use of mobile rendered websites, strong product or service placement within mobile sectors and strong offers available via mobile and they are increasing sales as a result.

More than one third of smartphone users made a purchase through their mobile device in the last 6 months and nearly two out of three shoppers use at least one device to research and purchase while shopping, and 28% use two devices at a time.

Within the 10% of mobile users who have made a mobile purchase in the last six months, 84% look for local retailer information, 82% find online retailers, 73% find a specific manufacturer or product website, 71% learn about a product or service after seeing an ad, 68% find the best price for a product or service, and 63% search before purchasing in a store or from a catalogue using their mobile device.

Combine these kinds of statistics from the mCommerce ready audience with 56% of consumers believing mobile can make the shopping experience more enjoyable and you can understand why many marketers believe that there is a consumer payments revolution on the way with retail at the forefront of it.

Both sources mentioned here look into the numbers of people who are still hesitant when it comes to mobile commerce. The Intersperience research highlights that 37% of UK adults are not keen to buy via mobile, compared to just 11% who remain hesitant to purchase via PC.

According to Google’s stats, 69% of smartphone users who do not buy via mobile simply prefer to use their PC or laptop for shopping. Other concerns included ‘doesn’t feel secure’ (34%) and complexity (9%).

It’s quite clear that paying over your PC didn’t take off immediately in the late 90’s but the advent of payment providers like Paypal and the emergence of the banking sector into online payments has made paying over your PC an everyday “chore” almost, with people more than happy to pay over the internet.

Whilst mobile is going through that indifference and security concerns phase now, it’s clear than in the future as more and more banks and financial players like PayPal come into the market with industry leading products and services and as more security concerns are addressed that the future of payments via mobile as a “chore” is very, very near.

In the final post in the M-Commerce series we will look at future predictions in this sector.

Thanks

themobileexpert