Tag 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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Mobile App Sales Taking Hold and Growing

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Mobile is becoming more and more important to businesses around the globe. In a recent survey by Urban Airship of more than 100 UK retail executives, half of the retailers surveyed stated that between 21% and 50% of their online sales now come via a mobile device. Clearly either you should be considering how Android app or iPhone app development fits into your sales channels.

Currently, mobile devices account for 22% of all retail online sales in the U.S., which is expected to reach 27% by 2018. | Photo: TechStage (Flikr)

According to Tim Paterson, from Urban Airship. “A growing number of consumers prefer mobile apps to traditional websites. And although more digital transactions still occur outside of mobile apps, it’s the crucial pre-shopping interactions taking place via mobile that can have a big impact on the buying process.”

Currently, mobile devices account for 22% of all retail online sales in the U.S., which is expected to reach 27% by 2018. In a Flurry Analytics study, they found that the average US mobile consumers spends 86% of their time on a smartphone using apps.

An example of just how important mobile is to sales is the Cyber Monday from this past holiday season, according to IBM, mobile traffic accounted for almost half of all online traffic and 28% of online sales, which is an increase of more than 25% over last year. Given these stats, it is obvious that mobile apps are not going away any time soon. Clearly you should use them to your advantage, if you aren’t already.

If you haven’t entered the mobile arena, its not too late. Keep in mind that over time the technology associated with of smartphones is improving, allowing the apps they use to improve in complexity, this constantly creates new space for new ideas for apps to enter the market. Additionally, the market is constantly maturing, the old philosophy of building a better mousetrap certainly applies to mobile apps, if you can offer an easier or more intuitive way to perform tasks users will take note.

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Deliver the Personalized Mobile Shopping Experiences that Customers Expect

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Are you delivering the personalized shopping experience that modern customers expect from mobile applications and web sites?

Personalize and enhance user’s stopping experiences in exciting new ways | Photo: TechStage (Flikr)

Businesses around the globe are missing out on millions of dollars in revenue due to their failure to personalize the online and offline shopping experiences according to Webloyalty. Their research goes on to state that more than 50 percent of those surveyed responded that a personalized shopping experience would motivate them to shop at a retailer. Further, Guy Chiswick, Managing Director, Webloyalty Northern Europe, stated that “personalization is the future of online shopping”.

However, their research also found that a full 26 percent of respondents replied that they had never received a personalized offer. Clearly indicating a gap between what customers want and what retailers are giving them with their online and mobile programs,

Personalized shopping experiences are well within the reach of most businesses due to the availability of affordable, high quality iPhone application developers and Android application developers around the globe.

With mobile technology more accessible than ever before, businesses have access to a wealth of opportunity when it comes to personalizing shopping experiences. With beacons or other location-based campaigns, businesses can personalize and enhance their shoppers’ experiences in exciting new ways that can propel sales.

Backing these numbers up, in another recent survey published by Merkle Inc., 46 percent of shoppers under 50 stated that they would like personalized offers for in-store purchases on their mobile phones. Paul Schottmiller, senior vice president of strategy, retail and consumer goods for Merkle, went on to state that “Consumers expectations are high and retailers have never had more options for using technology to deliver differentiated customer experiences.”

Personalization promotes customer loyalty, and loyalty is just as valuable (if not more so) than attracting new customers. Efforts to retain and increase sales from a businesses existing customer base can pay sizable dividends.

The exciting thing about personalization is that not only will customers be more loyal, but that you will find that they are willing to pay for personalization as well. Based on research by RightNow, 86 percent of consumers would be willing to pay up to 25 percent more for better customer experiences.

With data collection easier than ever before, consumers have come to expect retailers to know what they want without even telling them. Most consumers know that modern retailers have that capability and expect it from their shopping experience. Most consumers aren’t surprised by this ability to collect this information, and in fact, most opt in to programs and encourage it so that retailers can personalize their shopping experiences. In fact, according to MyBuys research, 78 percent of consumers are willing to allow retailers to use information from their in-store purchases to create more personalized experiences whenever they shop.

With mobile growing so rapidly and entrenching itself so deeply in the fabric of how we shop, failure to act on the opportunities available to marketers today would be short-sighted.

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Mobile to Reach Half of U.S. Digital Revenue by 2017

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In a recent report, Gartner, looking at patterns in mobile commerce, predicts that by 2017, U.S. consumers’ mobile application and mobile web usage will drive U.S. mobile commerce revenue to 50% of U.S. digital commerce revenue. Currently mobile commerce currently generates about 22% of digital commerce revenue, according to Gartner.

In other interesting findings, by year-end 2016, Gartner predicts that more than $2 billion in online shopping will be performed by mobile digital assistants, such as Google Now or Siri.

While some retailers will update to mobile payments quicker than others, this is actually a perfect time for retailers to make the jump due to new credit card standards and discuss mobile implications with their mobile application developer.

“New credit card standards will cause a shift in liability for fraudulent transactions in 2015, requiring retailers to update their point-of-sale systems for safer credit card transactions. This opens the door for point-of-updates to also accept mobile payment,” states Jennifer Polk, research director, Gartner.

Businesses that create a smooth purchasing path on mobile applications and web sites will appeal to consumers who are increasingly more comfortable and dependent on using mobile devices to not only research but purchase products and services.

Mobile Shopping Showing Powerful Growth

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Right now about two-thirds of online retail occurs via smartphones and tablets and the use of mobile devices and mobile apps for shopping is continuing to grow. Clearly, you don’t have to be a marketing genius to understand the importance of mobile to retail. And if you haven’t called an iPhone application developer or Android application developer yet, what are you waiting for?

According to comScore Inc., 66% of time spent with online retail in September 2014 occurred on mobile devices (This number is up from 52% in March 2013). And with 174 million U.S. consumers owning smartphones and 93 million owning tablets (comScore) the market is beyond substantial.

Andrew Lipsman, vice president of marketing and insights at comScore, attributes this growth to three things. First of all, he explains that customs are becoming increasingly more comfortable with the act of shopping via their mobile device. Beyond that, for his second factor, he credits companies with doing a better job with their mobile shopping applications, creating experiences that make it easier to shop on their mobile devices.

His third factor is mobile apps. Fact of the matter is that consumers prefer mobile apps to the mobile web (shown in research by comScore and several others). Consumers are spending more of their Internet time on mobile apps. Mobile applications can make full use of a mobile device’s features and functions, therefore they provide better user experiences than users find on mobile web sites.

According to Kimber Johnson, Marketing Director, Pacific App Design “Savvy companies making sensible use of mobile applications and driving more consumers to mobile shopping. We anticipate seeing even greater emphasis placed on mobile apps in the near future as the success stories continue to be heard.”