Tag: mobile consumers

Alibaba unveils plans to support retail sector that may have implications for mobile commerce

Alibaba, China’s largest online retailer, has unveiled plans to revolutionize the country’s e-commerce sector. Commerce throughout China has been changing in recent years, driven by the growing number of people that are beginning to rely heavily on their mobile devices. The emergence of mobile commerce has encouraged many companies within China to take the mobile space more seriously, and Alibaba intends to utilize the momentum that mobile commerce has generated to make drastic changes to the e-commerce scene.

Company to invest $16 billion in support for the e-commerce sector

Alibaba intends to invest some $16 billion in logistics and support to the e-commerce field through 2020. The company believes that this investment will help open up China to hundreds of millions of new customers, which could eventually translate into higher revenues for online retailers throughout China. E-commerce is expected to account for a fifth of all retail sales in China within the next 5 years and many of these sales will come from those making purchases from mobile devices.

Mobile commerce is growing in China

Mobile commerce has been gaining momentum throughout China, but few retailers have yet to embrace the mobile space. Support from Alibaba may help retailers become more accommodating of mobile consumers, developing websites and other services that are optimized for mobile use. While Alibaba is not solely focused on mobile commerce, the support that it is bringing to the retail industry may help retailers engage mobile consumers more effectively.

Lack of security could slow growth of mobile commerce

There are risks when it comes to the expansion of mobile commerce. Identity theft and other types of fraud are becoming more common within the mobile space with every passing day. Without adequate security measures, the growth of mobile commerce is expected to be sluggish among consumers that are concerned for the safety of their financial information. Security concerns are also prevalent in the e-commerce sector, where consumers are leery of platforms they are not familiar with.

A recent study has shown that many shoppers are turned off of the struggles from going mobile.

The latest m-commerce study released by Jumio Inc. has shown that many retailers may not be taking the right approach to selling their products and services over the mobile channel.

The research showed that many consumers give up on their purchase before the transaction is complete.

The study was conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Jumio. It determined that over two out of every three (68 percent) smartphone and tablet owners have tried to make an m-commerce purchase using their mobile device. However, it also found that two thirds of those (66 percent) had not finished their purchase because of the struggles that they faced in using their devices to try to checkout.

M-commerce is bringing people to the checkout, but not taking that final step to complete the purchase.

According to the Jumio CEO and founder, Daniel Mattes, “Businesses invest a great deal to get consumers to the point of sale in their mobile apps, but there are a lot of obstacles keeping users from taking their purchase across the finish line.” He added that from the point of having to type in all of their personal information once or multiple times in the very small text boxes in the checkout screens, “to concerns over the safety of data, users are bailing out at checkout. Brands can’t afford to lose shoppers in those final moments of the transaction.”

The Mobile Consumer Insights study by Jumio for 2013 also presented a considerable lesson that was that the m-commerce checkout process needs to be much faster to give it any value to consumers. Almost half – 47 percent – of the consumers who took part in the survey said that they gave up on making a purchase because it took too long to get through the checkout process. An additional 41 percent also mentioned that it was too difficult to checkout using their device, be it a smartphone or tablet.

Mattes said that consumers are demanding an m-commerce checkout process that is much simpler and more streamlined than is the typical experience right now.