Two recent studies has shown that device users still aren’t ready to shop and pay with their gadgets.
Although smartphones are rapidly making their way into the hands of virtually every American, nowadays, mobile commerce and payments are falling way behind the many other uses that people have for their gadgets.
This, according to the results of two different surveys that looked into the use of mobile devices.
According to research from Informate Mobile Intelligence, the average American smartphone user currently spends about 4.7 hours on his or her device, every day. That represents about thirty percent of their waking time. That research was conducted in December 2014, and shoed that device users in the U.S. are greatly likely to have access to applications for mobile commerce and payments. The reach for shopping apps, at that time, was 59 percent, and for mobile payments apps, it was 49 percent.
That said, despite the reach, mobile commerce and payments aren’t appealing to American consumers as they could.
A second survey, this one by Placeable, which involved the participation of one thousand consumers in the United States, said that while the mobile apps may be there, people simply aren’t using them. That survey determined that 42 percent of smartphone owners had never made a purchase on their device. Moreover, only 9 percent of those who had access to mobile payments said that they actually used them.
The survey pointed out that this also doesn’t necessarily mean that shoppers aren’t using their mobile devices as a part of their purchasing process. The research indicated that 6 out of every 10 consumers will use their smartphones at some point during the shopping process when they are shopping for a product online or even in-store. However, the actual purchase is not being made over that device. That is occurring over PC or at the store’s checkout counter.
While other research has indicated that mobile security could be in the way of the use of these options over smartphones, Placeable suggested that this may not entirely be the case. Nearly 70 percent of participants in the survey said that they were willing to trust shopping over mobile commerce or making smartphone based payments. The reason that they are not using them is that they don’t see the need.
Gartner has recently released a prediction that says that revenue will be driven by smartphone based behavior.
The Gartner research firm has released a forecast that stated that by 2017, the engagement behaviors of smartphone users will have a powerful impact on mobile commerce revenue, sending it to reach 50 percent of the online shopping incomes generated in the United States.
This is an important and significant growth, considering that the current figure is 22 percent.
According to Gartner research director, Jennifer Polk, “Some sectors will migrate more quickly than others to accepting mobile payments and promoting mobile commerce.” She also went on to provide the example to illustrate her point, saying that big-box stores might not need to move as rapidly as stores in other industries, since they can still fall back on their in-store experience, which remains “a critical part of their value proposition and the customer experience, making digital and mobile commerce a smaller portion of their overall revenue.”
Certain industries must clearly work harder to focus on mobile commerce than others.
That said, Polk added that new standards for credit cards will lead to a liability shift when it comes to cases of fraud, this year. This will make it important for retailers to adapt their point of sale systems for credit card transactions that are more secure. “This opens the door for point-of-updates to also accept mobile payment,” said Polk.
Gartner explained that marketers with mobile commerce and digital shopping initiatives must concentrate on building cross-functional teams, such as in sales, IT, legal, and customer support. This will make it possible to form a seamless experience throughout the length of the purchasing process in addition to the relationships with customers that can develop following a sale.
The Gartner statement expressed that if mobile marketing teams look into ways to better leverage wallet apps with a focus on revitalizing the interest that consumers have in mobile commerce as well as smartphone based payment transactions. Furthermore, the research firm said that by the close of next year, over $2 billion in e-shopping will have been generated only over smartphones or tablets.
