The Future of mCommerce

February 2, 2015

The Future of mCommerce

Finding the right goods for your home, garden or even place of work can be daunting these days with the wide variety of products available to consumers and walking from shop to shop can be tiring, but with the increasing popularity of mCommerce, shopping for your brand new sofa, lawn ornament or desk lamp is as easy as ever.

What is mCommerce?

Coined by Kevin Duffey in 1997, mCommerce is the idea of delivering eCommerce into a consumer’s hand wherever they are via a wireless connection. Whilst the idea was discussed almost 10 years ago, new technologies such as 4G and wi-fi hotspots are making the idea a reality. It’s estimated that by 2018, 50% of eCommerce transactions will actually be mCommerce.

There’s An App For That

With over 1 million apps available for Apple’s ‘App Store’ alone and with android not falling far behind, there’s a wealth of stores and products available to consumers’ fingertips. With 93% of all British people now claiming to own a mobile phone and with 57% of American mobile phone users, it’s easy to see how the trend of mCommerce is growing in popularity. Downloading or ordering the latest book, song or film is as simple as pressing a button.

Surprisingly, Japan was one of the early adopters of mCommerce managing 10 billion products ordered on a mobile in 2009 compared to America’s 1.9 billion. Since then, however, America has embraced the idea with Apple reporting that the average Christmas gift ordered on an iPhone in 2014 was $97.28.

mCommerce is predicted to become a $325 billion industry across the world by 2015, so making sure that your products can be accessed by a mobile phone, either through your website or via a free app, is becoming increasingly important. With the possibility of lost or stolen phones, it’s equally as important to ensure that your store can process payments safely and securely.

For sources and further reading, please visit the links below:

https://www.internetretailer.com/2014/03/10/mobile-commerce-will-be-nearly-half-e-commerce-2018

http://www.retentionscience.com/2015-prediction-as-screen-sizes-grow-so-will-mobile-commerce/

https://econsultancy.com/blog/5435-mobile-commerce-to-grow-to-119bn-by-2015-report/

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/battle-lines-drawn-for-the-retail-mcommerce-war-in-2015-287630611.html