Category Archives: mobile commerce

How to Capitalize on Opportunities Created by Mobile Commerce

The use of mobile devices took off like a rocket with the release of the first iPhone and consumers have not looked back. Likewise, customers have embraced mobile apps and mobile app development companies have enjoyed tremendous growth over the same time frame.

While mobile commerce has shown tremendous growth it has lagged behind consumer’s general mobile use | Photo: Jason Howie (Flikr)

However, following somewhat behind the use of mobile devices and mobile apps is mobile commerce. While mobile commerce has shown tremendous growth it has lagged behind consumer’s general mobile use. Consumers often use mobile devices to shop and do research on products, but they regularly make the actual purchases offline or via their desktop or laptop computer.

Accessing the internet via mobile passed access via desktop in 2014, but mobile commerce is still lagging behind as consumers are making more purchases and spending more money via their desktop computers.

Because of this, there is a tremendous opportunity to increase sales if you can convert shoppers doing research on their mobile device into sales right then and there. If you can, you will help reduce the number of people performing research that are not being converted into customers or customers who end up making purchases from one of your competitors.

Prioritize mobile

To capitalize on this opportunity, you first and foremost must not treat mobile as a secondary channel. You need to prioritize mobile commerce and mobile user experiences. Additionally your business needs to create a mobile transactional app.

Users spend the bulk of their mobile time using apps and if your business does not have one you are missing the boat. In addition to differences in usage time, mobile apps have higher conversion rates than mobile web sites which also make them essential.

Optimize mobile experiences

To maximize your return on mobile efforts, your business needs to make sure that they have user-friendly, optimized mobile experiences across all mobile content. This includes not only mobile apps but mobile friendly web sites as well.

Many businesses have tried to shoe-horn their web site deigned for desktop viewing into a mobile web site and mobile app and this will not bring the sales they were hoping for. Design specifically for mobile with a laser like focus on user experience.

Omni-channel strategy

A cross-device strategy is essential these days. Your business needs to understand the relationship between how your customers use the various channels and have a plan for how to engage them as they move between them.

You may find that many of the purchases on the desktop version of your web site are being inspired by mobile ads. You will have an easier time driving results if you understand the big picture of the customer journey. If your mobile ads are driving desktop sales find out why. Find out why users are not buying off your mobile offerings and improve them to close the gap and increase sales.

Consider the following 3 aspects of the mobile process:

Customer acquisition

Right now consumers are willing to download and engage with retailers via apps, however many retailers are still lagging behind when it comes to developing apps utilizing best practices. The user experience of many apps has lagged behind what consumers are expecting.

When it comes to mobile apps a quality user experience is crucial and retailers must devote necessary time and effort to their user interface to improve the likelihood that customers will shop via their mobile app.

Customer engagement

When it comes to mobile, bounce rates are higher than they are on desktop. Consumers tend to engage differently with mobile than they do on desktop computers and this should be accounted for when developing your application. For instance, customers generally visit far fewer screens in apps.

This has to do with the shorter session times that occur on mobile. On the other hand, users tend to use their mobile devices with much greater frequency. If your business accounts for the way customers use their devices and develop an app that falls in line with their needs and usage patterns, it will help drive sales.

Customer retention

It can be difficult to re-engage a user once they have abandoned your application. Consumers are much less likely to return to an app after abandoning it than they are returning to a web site on a desktop computer. Because of this it is essential that you place a high priority on engaging customers who have downloaded your app right off the bat.

Final thoughts

Since we are living in a time when consumers constantly use their mobile devices to communicate, be entertained, work, and look for information. it makes sense that businesses would cater to customers being able to shop via their mobile device.

To take advantage of mobile commerce’s potential, you want to make sure you understand and accommodate your customers’ preferences, behaviors, needs and limitations. Focus on creating mobile experiences that make shopping simple. Investments in UX Design can pay off high dividend as they will help you improve user experiences and help create mobile sales.

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Increase Retail Sales with High-powered Mobile Applications

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Over the past 7 years the way consumers shop has dramatically changed.

With the introduction of the smart phone, consumers found they had a wealth of information right at their fingertips, which opened up a whole new era of retail. Retail shopping is not longer a distinctly different activity from online shopping as customers are now able to integrate the benefits of online shopping into their retail shopping experiences.

Consumers shop with their smart phones in their hands | Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns (Flikr)

Consumers shop with their smart phones in their hands while in the store. Utilizing their devices to compare prices and read reviews on products they are interested in. Mobile devices are also used to look for coupons and deals.

Savvy businesses have followed this trend and are providing consumers with the tools they want in their mobile applications. Understanding the needs of your consumer is crucial before beginning a mobile app development project. These needs should be communicated to your iPhone application developer or Android application developer.

In a study created by SessionM, it was shown that when shopping for everyday items, 65 percent of consumers used their smart phones during shopping to search for coupons, compare prices or to access a shopping list.

Clearly with numbers this high, applications built for businesses that have retails outlets should consider that their customers will be looking for prices, reviews and deals while in their stores and provide the appropriate information in an easy to use format.

Look at mobile apps as a way to augment the in-store shopping experience by being able to provide the info customers are looking for all in one place in the palm of their hand. Studies like the above provide a general idea of what consumers are looking for but don’t assume a one-size-fits-all approach works. What information are your businesses’ customers looking for? Great apps begin with the customer.

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Smartphone Becoming Primary Computing Device

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The most recent forecast from IDC predicts that the smart devices market will grow 15.6% in 2014. This would have the smart device market reaching close to 1.8 billion devices. This growth is expected to be lead by smartphone growth as PC and tablet sales expectations have been lowered slightly. IDC further estimates that shipments will grow to 2.4 billion units in 2018 and expects smartphone shipments to outpace total PC shipments by more than 6 to 1 in 2018.

“Apple’s iOS-ification of Mac OS, and Microsoft’s implementation of Modern UI throughout different form factors are clear indicators that we’re living in a mobile-first world,” states Jitesh Ubrani, IDC Research Analyst.

Further illustrating the move to smartphones as users primary devices are usage numbers. The amount of daily time spent on mobile devices is now outpacing TV in the U.S. (according a newly-released 2014 AdReaction study from Millward Brown). On average U.S. users now spend 151 minutes per day on smartphones and only 147 on average in front of TVs. In China users spend an average of 170 minutes per day on their devices.

xAd and Telmetrics 2nd Annual UK Mobile Path-to-Purchase Study states that up to 46 percent of UK consumers now use mobile devices as their primary medium for purchase decision making, while one in four use mobile devices as their exclusive shopping research device. Mobile applications and mobile web sites are becoming more important than ever as they are becoming consumers primary point of contact with brands.

Growth of Mobile Services Benefits Businesses

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Continuing along with mobile’s rapid growth, mobile payments continue to grow at a rapid rate. Adyen’s Mobile Payment Index shows 20% of all payment transactions coming from Adyen’s global network are now generated on mobile devices. This is about a 66% increase over 2013 numbers.

“Customers are no longer talking about ‘taking a chance’ in the mobile market like they were a few short years ago,” says Kimber Johnson, Managing Director of Pacific App Design, “Now mobile applications and mobile commerce are an established channel and the focus is on how to improve the quality of the sales channel.”

Additionally, 70% of global merchants now say they are processing mobile payments. As the services grow so do sales. The sale of Digital goods such books and streaming content saw growth of 6.2% according to Adyen.

RTB.com states they have had a 36,000% revenue increase from 2011-2014. Illustrating the growth potential in the mobile marketplace.

“Services created for the mobile market are experiencing huge growth as they mature with the industry,” continues Mr. Johnson, “We are seeing businesses benefit as those services mature. Additional options and improved payment options are helping businesses improve their mobile presence.”

Keys to Mobile Commerce 2.0

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What do consumers want when shopping from mobile applications?

In a recent study designed to look at mobile shopping, Catalina found that what shoppers want in a mobile commerce experience is quite simple: they want to save time and money without extra hassle. Their survey was based on a nationwide survey of 1,000 smartphone owners who are also the primary grocery shopper within their respective households.

Mobile applications have changed the way we look at retail as we can now shop using just a few touches of our fingers. The next wave of mobile applications that are being designed with a shopper-centric approach will accelerate adoption of mobile shopping by providing content that is relevant to individual shoppers.

“We are seeing shopping experiences grow from the catalog approach that mirrored catalogs into personalized shopping experiences that save consumers time and cater to their interests,” says Kimber Johnson, Managing Director, Pacific App Design. “Relevant content is enhancing user experiences and savvy shoppers are gravitating towards the retailers and brands that are delivering the shopping experience that consumers want.”

Mobile commerce is an area where brands are actively working to deliver better shopping experiences so brands can’t wait to act. Study data shows that about two-thirds of primary household shoppers have already used their smartphone on a shopping trip. These users are rapidly forming preferences.