Denny |
November 29, 2012
Mobile commerce report shows increase in mobile app use
By now, it is no secret that mobile c
ommerce had a strong showing during the Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping weekend. A multitude of retailers put intense focus on mobile consumers this year in the hopes of engaging these people in various mobile commerce platforms. Onavo, a mobile data compression firm, has released information concerning which of these platforms performed the best during the shopping weekend. The company tracked the performance of these platforms that were put to use by some of the largest retailers in the world.
Report shows Best Buy saw greatest increase in mobile commerce traffic this year
According to Onavo, Groupon remained the most used mobile commerce application during the holiday shopping weekend. Best Buy, however, saw the largest increase in overall commerce on Black Friday. Use of the company’s mobile commerce application shot up by almost 600% on a single day. The Best Buy application was followed closely by one from Wal-Mart. A mobile commerce application from Kohl’s saw an increase in use of over 300% on the same day.
Report accounts for iOS platform only
Notably, Onavo’s report accounts only for iPhone users, thus physical payments made with a mobile device are not represented. The Android platform is currently the only mainstream mobile operating system that supports NFC technology, which facilitates mobile payments for physical products. The report also does not account for the mobile commerce activity that came from consumers with Android devices. These consumers are estimated to have accounted for a major portion of overall mobile commerce activity during the holiday shopping weekend.
Consumers continue to become more comfortable with mobile commerce
Mobile commerce continues to grow in popularity amongst consumers. Retailers have been working to raise the awareness of mobile commerce for several months, hoping to engage a relatively new audience of tech-savvy consumers. These efforts seem to have paid off and may have established a foundation upon which retailers can build more engaging mobile commerce venture for the future.
Digital commerce is quickly becoming a major factor for businesses all over the world
Digital commerce (mobile, social, etc.) is becoming a major factor in the world of business. Several industries are seeing the impact of digital commerce and are working to appeal to consumers with smart phones and other mobile devices. Indeed, digital commerce is expected to become a major part of engagement strategies for businesses that want to stay relevant with tech-savvy consumers. Thomas Idea, a leading interactive agency, suggests that companies all over the world will have to adopt digital commerce or risk being left behind by consumers that are becoming more reliant on mobile technology.
Thomas Idea takes note of the digital commerce trend
Thomas Idea has seen the trend of digital commerce gain significant momentum over the past year and believes that this momentum will only continue to grow into the future. The agency notes that one of the most promising sectors of the digital commerce space is in-store mobile applications, services that help making mobile shopping more convenient for consumers. Consumers often turn to mobile commerce to make their shopping experience easier, thus companies appealing to this interest.
Retailers being encouraged to provide mobile services to consumers
Thomas Idea notes that many consumers use mobile applications to compare prices and research products, as well as connect to social networks. Companies that help facilitate these interests could see their favor increase amongst tech-savvy consumers, who are becoming a significant economic force in and of themselves. The agency notes that U.S. retailer Walgreens’ uses an application called Aisle 411 that allows consumers to find the products they are looking for from 7,900 of the retailer’s stores. Using the app, consumers can track down these products to their exact location in the physical world.
Personalized campaigns could be major success
The agency notes that personalized promotions will become more important for businesses in 2013. Digital commerce platforms enable retailers to fine tune their sales campaign to focus on the specific interests of particular consumers, while also still appealing to a broad demographic. If companies can find ways to engage mobile consumers, they could see major economic gain in 2013.
