Mobile commerce becoming more prolific among consumers
Strategy Analytics, a leading market research firm, has released a new report that sheds light on how consumers are using their mobile devices for mobile commerce. The report, titled “67 percent of Smartphone Owners Use Devices In-Store – Consumer and Retailer Mobile Needs Explored,” suggests that the majority of consumers use their mobile devices for shopping. Mobile commerce has been growing in popularity among consumers for some time, with many considering it more convenient to shop with their mobile devices.
Majority of consumers use their mobile devices to shop
According to the report, approximately 67% of consumers use their mobile device for shopping. For many, this means augmenting an in-store experience using a smartphone or tablet, using their mobile device to find the best deals on products. Mobile payments are also popular among these consumers, especially as companies begin to offer better services in this regard. While mobile devices are often used in-store, the report shows that 61% of consumers use their smartphones and tablets to shop from home.
Retailers investing heavily in mobile commerce
The retail industry has been investing heavily in mobile commerce recently, hoping to capture the interest of tech-savvy consumers. Several companies, such as Tesco and Wal-Mart, have launched applications that make it possible to purchase products with nothing more than a mobile device. Google, as well as other technology companies, have also produced applications that serve as mobile payment platforms. These applications are becoming more prolific, giving a wider range of consumers an opportunity to participate in mobile commerce.
NFC technology may not be the future of mobile payments
The report shows that a great deal of the attention that is centered on mobile commerce revolves around NFC technology. NFC is one of the cornerstones of mobile payments, as it allows mobile devices to transmit financial information over a short distance. Strategy Analytics predicts that NFC technology will eventually fade away due to the lack of support for the technology and the security concerns that many consumers have due to the capabilities of NFC.
Interest group to tackle issues concerning NFC technology
NFC technology was once the cornerstone of mobile commerce. The technology helped bring mobile payments into the limelight because of its ability to facilitate quick data transfer from one device to another. While NFC technology is still a focus in some areas of mobile commerce, the industry is beginning to move away from the technology because of its relatively low adoption rate and concerns regarding its security. The NFC Forum, a trade association that developers standards for the use of NFC technology, has created an interest group that aims to explore the ways the technology can be used in the realms of mobile payments and transportation.
NFC Forum aims to promote use of technology for transportation and mobile payments
The NFC Forum has been promoting the capabilities of NFC technology, especially when used in mobile commerce, for more than a decade. The organization has established many of the standards that govern the use of the technology today. The NFC Forum has been seeing the position of the technology in the mobile commerce realm steadily diminish and has been looking for ways to encourage the continued use of the technology as a medium for mobile payments.
NFC could be very useful in the realm of transportation
The new interest group established by the NFC Forum aims to discover new ways to use NFC technology for mobile payments and for transportation. In terms of mobile commerce, the use of the technology is fairly straightforward, but the group will focus on finding ways to improve the efficiency and security of NFC-based mobile payments. The technology does have some promise when it comes to transportation, as it can be used as a storage medium for electronic tickets for various forms of public transportation.
NFC allows for use of electronic tickets
Using NFC technology, a consumer can store electronic tickets on their mobile device. When they are ready to board a plane, for instance, they can use their mobile device to present their boarding pass, removing the need for physical tickets. NFC has a variety of uses, but there exists a lack of NFC-enabled devices that enable the widespread adoption of this technology. The interest group will focus on highlighting the capabilities of NFC technology in order to encourage its adoption among consumers, businesses, and other parties.
