Tag: mobile commerce sites

These smartphone friendly websites are using Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and others to build relationships.

According to the latest research, mobile commerce websites are increasing their use of social media marketing because of the advantage it provides in generating a sense of a personal relationship between their customers and their brands.

The researchers in this study referred to the trend as “swift guanxi” due to its areas of effectiveness.

The term has been used because the “guanxi” concept is from China and is “broadly defined as a close and pervasive interpersonal relationship” as well as “based on high-quality social interactions and the reciprocal exchange of mutual benefits.” This, according to the researchers from the study, Robert M. Davison, Carol Xiaojuan Ou, and Paul A. Pavlou.

The researchers found that using mobile commerce in this way was highly effective for building loyalty.

When they spoke of swift guanxi, they were talking about the ability to ease interactivity, loyalty, and repeat transactions when using social media for mobile commerce purposes. The data used in this study was gleaned from the leading online marketplace in China, TaoBao. They looked into the way that computer mediated communication (CMC) technology could be used for this purpose and convert shoppers who would otherwise have made a single purchase and never return, into a long term customer by way of personal rapport.

It had previously been assumed that shoppers had a preference for impersonal transactions. However, this mobile commerce study shows that both consumers and retailers have an inherent liking for the type of relationship that can fall under the guanxi label, even though the degree of that interaction may vary from one culture to the next.

According to Pavlou, “Nobody would argue that personal relationships are unimportant, but it is unfathomable that people in the U.S. would engage in such extensive communications and personal interactions for a small transaction.” He was referring to the fact that in China, for instance, a very small transaction where only a few dollars were spent could be the result of a communication that could take well over three quarters of an hour.

Mobile commerce may be a problem for site traffic

Mobile commerce had a strong showing over the Thanksgiving holiday shopping weekend. Mobile sales this year set a new standard for much of the retail industry and proved how powerful mobile commerce can really be. Retailers are expected to show more enthusiasm in mobile commerce due to the gains they saw during the holiday shopping weekend, but they may also have to fine tune their mobile shopping initiatives to account for higher levels of traffic.

Keynote shows average load time exceeds 18 seconds

Though a vast multitude of consumers took to their mobile devices to shop for the products they wanted, many saw mobile commerce platforms slow to a crawl. Keynote, a site monitoring and testing companies, notes that many e-commerce and mobile platforms experiences a dramatic slow down over the holiday shopping weekend. This slow down was especially pronounced on Cyber Monday, with consumers flocked to retail sites to buy products. According to Keynote, the average load time for a mobile retail site on Cyber Monday reached 18 seconds — twice as slow as normal load times.

Consumers not apt to wait during holiday shopping

While 18 seconds may not seem like a significant amount of time, many consumers correlate slow load times with poor service. Though retailers have been investing heavily in mobile commerce, much of the effort these companies have been putting into the sector revolves around engaging consumers. As such, relatively few retailers were prepared for the massive amount of traffic they would experience on their mobile sites. Retailers may have to rethink  their approach to mobile commerce if they want to continue engaging mobile consumers.

Retailers may need to take new approach to their mobile sites

Mobile commerce is growing quickly, putting major strain on mobile websites that are designed to serve consumers. Keynote suggests that there may be a simple solution. Retailers must develop better mobile websites and adopt more rigorous testing procedures to ensure that their sites can handle high levels of traffic. Without adequate testing, a slow-loading website could be enough to have consumers looking elsewhere for service.