Asian markets show promise for mobile commerce

International market research firm yStats has released a new report concerning electronic and mobile commerce in Asia. Asian markets have become very attractive in terms of mobile commerce due to the rising adoption of smartphones and tablets. Consumers are becoming quite reliant on these devices and are showing enthusiasm when it comes to shopping online and making purchases directly from their devices. The report, titled “Asia B2C E-Commerce Report 2013,” aims to shed light on the evolution of commerce throughout Asia.

Internet access helps boost online sales

The report notes that Internet use in countries like Japan, China, and South Korea continues to rise at a rapid rate. As more consumers gain access to the Internet, they begin to shop online more frequently. The expansion of mobile networks is also giving consumers access to the Internet from their smartphones and tablets, exposing them to a wide range of mobile commerce services. Consumers in these countries have been showing favor for mobile shopping over more traditional forms of shopping. The report notes, however, that countries like Laos, Indonesia, Nepal, and India are falling behind when it comes to Internet access. While these countries can be considered valuable markets, the potential of mobile commerce in these countries is somewhat limited.

Japan and China considered prominent markets for mobile commerce

Japan is currently considered one of the most promising markets when it comes to mobile commerce. Tech-savvy consumers often use their mobile devices for just about everything in Japan and it is becoming increasingly common for retailers to focus exclusively on those with mobile devices. China is also showing strong growth on the mobile commerce front as more people gain access to smartphones and tablets. In terms of e-commerce, China is expected to see a 30% increase in online sales by 2016.

Online sales in India account for less than 1% of retail sales

A rise in Internet use is often tied to an increase in online sales. In countries where Internet access can still be considered a luxury, online sales are quite low. In India, for example, online sales account for less than 1% of all retail sales. The country is still considered a promising market for mobile commerce, however, due to the fact that mobile technology is becoming much more common among consumers throughout the country.

The campaign for “National Cheeseburger Day” was more successful than the company had anticipated.

A number of Dairy Queen franchises experienced a massive mobile marketing win through an SMS campaign that they ran to help to boost participation in “National Cheeseburger Day”, which occurred on September 18.

The participating locations used smartphone and loyalty based campaigns that were wildly popular.

In fact, the successes of the mobile marketing effort were great enough that two of the locations ran out of product due to the sudden unexpected rush of customers. One of the participating locations’ owners had to run the restaurant’s grill as the massive influx in demand caused the store to be suddenly understaffed.

There were three participating locations in total that used the mobile marketing technique.

In order to implement this mobile marketing technique, the locations used the Loyalty Rewards Kiosk from VIPTextDeals.com so that they would be able to send a text message to their database of customers. This campaign broadcasted the word about National Cheeseburger Day to all of the subscribed cell phone owners.

This meant that the mobile marketing message was sent to 1,482 subscribed customers who were opted in at the time that the broadcast was issued. The text read “It’s National Cheeseburger Day! Sink Your Teeth into .99 Cent Cheeseburgers @ Dairy Queen {STORE LOCATION} until 8pm Tonight/No Limit/Show Text – FWD-2-Friends!”.

This offer was deemed to be “highly targeted” and “aggressive” and it brought about a result that certainly matched those descriptions. The mobile marketing brought about a dramatic increase in the normal business at each of the three locations that participated in the campaign.

Within the initial 24 hour period that followed the mobile marketing broadcast, one of the three locations saw an increase in traffic that was estimated to be 483 percent greater than the normal volume. This brought an additional 106 customers through the door of the location. This achievement was a considerable one considering that this was the number of people who responded out of a total of 590 subscribers from that specific restaurant. This type of response to an ad is virtually unheard of over other channels.