A growing number of people looking for a new vehicle are turning to apps to help them buy.
If you’re going to be shopping for a car in the near future, the odds are that if you have a smartphone or a tablet, you’ll consider using a mobile commerce app to help you to make your decision.
Though consumers have been comfortable with small purchases for a while, larger ones are making headway.
Consumers are becoming increasingly comfortable in using mobile commerce to shop for smaller items such as music and ebook downloads, clothing, and tickets, the bigger ticket purchases have been a tougher go. But it has now reached the point that consumers are using their devices for so many different daily tasks, that they are feeling quite natural in picking up their smartphones and tablets in order to look into more expensive items such as cars.
This willingness to consider mobile commerce for a purchase as big as a car is a massive step in this area.
According to the High Gear Media vice president of product management, Jeff Birkeland, “There’s this huge upheaval in terms of mobile usage and mobile behavior.” Birkeland’s publication is responsible for The Car Connection website as well as its app. He added that “People are looking to not only research cars but actually take action and connect to a dealer and do some business on mobile.”
This indicates that people are now becoming comfortable enough with mobile commerce that they’re not just using it to surf around and find out what’s out there. They’re also using their devices to locate a dealer and complete a number of other actions, from comparing models to researching prices and seeking out deals.
Often, through the use of mobile commerce apps and sites, car shoppers are heading to the dealership already completely informed about what they want and how much it will cost. They are walking onto the sales floor armed with a great deal more information and are better prepared for what is likely to be a very large and potentially emotional purchase, enhancing their overall experience.
Mobile payments may be revolutionized by ambitious developers
Mobile payments are becoming more popular and common in the U.S., but many still claim there are barriers between the mobile commerce world and consumers. Some mobile payments services are being criticized as not being convenient enough for some consumers while others are meeting consumer backlash over matters of security. Mobile developers have been working to find ways to make mobile payments more efficient in recent months in the hopes of making the entirety of the mobile commerce scene more accommodating and attractive to consumers.
Harper Reed announced plans for new mobile commerce application
Harper Reed, former chief technology officer for Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, has announced that he and a team of developers are working to develop a new mobile payments application. Reed suggests that this application will change the way people participate in mobile commerce and will act as a push-button solution to many of the problems that currently exist in the realm of mobile payments. Reed managed to garner acclaim for his work with mobile applications during the Obama campaign and his talent may be enough to bring about major changes in mobile payments.
Application aims to streamline mobile payments
The application is currently in very early stages of development and Reed and his team have yet to decide on the final features the application will offer. For now, only the application’s ultimate goal is set in stone. Reed envisions an application through which purchases can be made with a simple push of a button, or in this case a tap of the screen of a mobile device. The application would make use of financial information stored on a mobile device in order to make this possible and Reed believes that making mobile payments easier for consumers to manage will make the entire online retail scene more active.
Security remains top challenge in mobile commerce space
While Reed’s vision for the future of mobile payments is ambitious, there are still several challenges that exist in the mobile commerce space that have made consumers somewhat leery of paying for products with their smartphones and tablets. The most prominent of these challenges has to do with security. Mobile payments have long been plagued by security issues that have put the financial information of consumers in danger, thereby driving many people away from this field. In order for Reed and his team to find the success they seek in mobile payments, they will have to find a way to solve the security problem.
