As the number of smartphone using consumers increases, so is the demand for mobile experiences.
Businesses ranging from retail stores to hotels are discovering that they need to keep up with the pace of technology, which means that mcommerce is already a vital part of ensuring future survival.
It is no longer an option for companies to avoid these changes.
Over half of consumers in the United States now have smartphones, and a growing number of them have come to expect that their favorite places to shop will cater to their desire to use these devices to make purchases and reservations. Many business owners are under the impression that this will require a great deal of time and expense, but it is possible to take part in mcommerce without tying up a large amount of a marketing budget or resources.
The mcommerce experience allows companies to become closer with consumers.
A survey performed by IMB this year that spoke with CEOs of companies of various size showed that 88 percent felt that their highest priority between now and 2017 was to bring themselves closer to their customers. Mobile commerce is an exceptionally important way to reach this goal.
Although the standard web remains important, as the majority of consumers still use desktops and laptops for shopping and searching online, recent data from Google has shown that 15 percent of online activity comes from mobile sources. This is a market segment that is simply too large to ignore, and it grows bigger every month.
By using social and mcommerce, companies get develop a better understanding of who their customers are and what they want from their experience. It becomes possible to identify many more variables than is possible from in-store or standard online shoppers. Once that information has been obtained, the customer experience can be continually personalized and polished in order to make sure that each customer type can shop in the way that they enjoy the most.
Mcommerce profiles allow businesses to personalize each individual shopper or guest, so that marketing, information, and purchasing can all be geared toward their interests, expectations, and needs.
Today’s businesses must not only go mobile, but must do it while keeping up with other trends.
Shopping via mcommerce is undergoing exponential growth, and as smartphones become increasingly popular and customer awareness of how to take part in the many different forms of the sector – from information to discounts to purchasing – it is only expected to skyrocket further.
eBay and Nielsen have each released the retail trends that start with smartphones and work outward.
The latest eBay Online Business Index (OBI) has shown that approximately half of all of the participating businesses had stated that they would be optimizing their online content for mcommerce. Nearly another quarter – 24 percent – stated that they would be developing a site meant specifically for mobile, while over 20 percent said that they would be creating an app.
The reason is that consumers want to be able to interact with their favorite companies through mobile commerce.
The most recent annual Nielsen Retail and Shopper Trends Report identified a wide list of trends that represent the way that the marketplace is shifting. Top among them is mcommerce, but it is clear that many of the other trends are closely linked to this sector and must be woven into its strategies.
Among these trends are the following:
• Mcommerce – this holds the top spot because its growth and hype is simply unmatched. It is a trend that is acting like a craze, as consumers find themselves equipped with everything they need once they purchase a smartphone. eBay, itself, just experienced its 100 millionth download of its app, and has now recorded 100 million mobile listings.
• Private labels sliding – Nielsen’s report showed that there has been a slip of 0.7 percent in the overall penetration of private labels. This is especially true in the grocery sector. Branded products emphasis by top retailers has been a primary driver in this trend. It shows that price wars are fierce and that shoppers are looking for the best deal and not necessarily the store they used to automatically choose. Mcommerce can benefit greatly by this knowledge, as can those who are marketing over mobile channels.
• Price importance – the latest report from Nielsen showed that the awareness of price among shoppers has risen significantly. Two years ago, fewer than 50 percent of consumers felt that they felt confident that they knew the prices of the products that they purchased the most frequently. This leapt to 60 percent this year. Price is a key factor in purchasing decisions, particularly with the movement away from private labels. As mcommerce is a sphere where a consumer can comparison shop among dozens, if not hundreds of different shops for the same or a similar product, prices must be competitive and easy to obtain, while value must be clearly demonstrated.
