Latest

Mobile shopping to see major growth during holiday season

| November 21, 2012

 

Mobile ShoppingThanksgiving may be the holiday for mobile shopping

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are fast approaching. Both days are very important for physical retailers and online businesses as sales made on these days can more than make up for an entire year of lackluster performance. Black Friday and Cyber Monday have been major holidays for the retail industry and e-commerce respectively, but the growing prevalence of mobile commerce and technology may establish a similar day that could be a major boon for mobile shopping.

More consumers showing interest in mobile shopping

Thanksgiving is a well known holiday in the U.S. As such, the holiday typically means that traditional brick and mortar stores are closed for business. Online retailers, however, remain open throughout the holiday, providing consumers with services that they might not be able to find from physical stores. According to data from IBM/Coremetrics, 15% of U.S. consumers used their mobile devices to visit retail sites on Thanksgiving in 2011, up from the 6.5% that did so in 2010.

Digitas survey shows growing support for mobile commerce and e-commerce

This trend is expected to continue this year, with the possibility of mobile traffic increasing by as much as double for some retailers. Companies like eBay already have plans to begin offering deals on Thanksgiving day, rather than wait for Black Friday or Cyber Monday. According to a recent survey from Digitas, a provider of integrated technology and marketing solutions, shows that many retailers are preparing to serve mobile consumers on Thanksgiving, following the same route as eBay in offering mobile applications that will assist with online shopping.

Survey shows shopping from computer is easier than from mobile device

The Digitas survey does shed some light on the problems facing mobile shopping, however. The survey notes that approximately 76% of the 2,059 respondents surveyed say that shopping from a computer is much easier than from a mobile device. Many consumers attribute the difficulty associated with mobile shopping to the small screens of most mobile devices. Nonetheless, consumers are still likely to heavily participate in mobile shopping during the holiday season.

NFC Market expected to see major growth

| November 20, 2012

 

Report highlights the growth of the NFC market

MarketsandMarkets, a leading marNFC Market Growth Mobile Commerceket research publication, has published a new report titled “Near Field Communication (NFC) Market — Global Forecast & Analysis.” The report highlights the various trends that surround the NFC market and predicts the growth that the technology will see between  the 2011 to 2016 period. The report covers a wide range of aspects in the NFC market, such as NFC applications, reading technologies, electronic ticketing, mobile marketing, and mobile commerce.

NFC market expected to see CAGR of 38% through 2016

According to the report, the global NFC market is expected to see a compound annual growth rate of 38% between 2011 and 2016. The NFC applications market alone is expected to reach more than $10 billion by the end of 2016. The report also notes that NFC technology will continue to see significant attention in the realm of mobile commerce. This is largely due to the fact that much of mobile commerce hinges on the capabilities of NFC technology.

Marketing may play a major role in growth

NFC has begun to attract a great deal of attention beyond the mobile commerce space. The technology has, in the past, been used in mobile marketing as a way to engage consumers. NFC is seeing more interest in this field as consumers become more familiar with the technology. The marketing industry is expected to add a significant amount of momentum to the NFC market. The technology is also proficient in facilitating data transfer and managing security access protocols, two additional sectors which are growing more popular throughout the world.

Consumers still leery of mobile commerce

The majority of growth the NFC market will see is expected to occur in the mobile applications space, especially in regards to mobile commerce platforms. These mobile applications allow consumers to make purchases using their smart phones and other NFC-enabled devices. The most significant challenges that could slow growth or derail it entirely remain in the fields of security and the scarcity of NFC-enabled mobile devices. Low availability and lackluster security features have left many consumers leery of the NFC market and its applications.