Tag: smartphone shopping

Among those who took part in a survey, 31 percent said they used their smartphones and tablets to shop.

According to the results of a survey that was conducted among consumers in Singapore, there has been a considerable rise in the number that are using their smartphones for mobile commerce purposes over the last year.

The most recent step of the study was conducted from March through May to view the popularity of this channel.

The study that was conducted by the research firm, Nielsen, was held from March all the way through May. It determined that when compared to the same period in the previous year, the popularity of mobile commerce had risen to 31 percent after having been 24 percent at the same time in 2012. This placed the Singapore city state well ahead of other countries within that same region.

The mobile commerce in Singapore was followed by Hong Kong in its popularity level.

In Hong Kong, the area where mobile commerce was second most popular, had 28 percent of the survey participants taking part in this form of shopping. In Malaysia, it was 27 percent of the survey participants, whereas, in Australia, there were 27 percent of the respondents who said that they shop over their smartphones.

The Nielsen research included the participation of more than 18,700 people who reside in nine different markets in the Asia Pacific region. In Singapore, there were approximately 1,300 people who had been asked whether or not their handset had been used for mobile commerce purposes within the previous month.

It should still be noted that while Singapore was the region that had the highest growth rate in terms of the use of mobile commerce, it was not in the lead for overall usage. In that category, the city state was considered to be in third place. It was well behind Japan, the first place holder, where nearly 90 percent of respondents had used their smartphones for shopping online. It was also behind South Korea, where an estimated two out of every three consumers was using their handsets for researching and buying products.

Some companies and techniques are working to expand the use of shopping over this channel.

Mobile commerce is taking off very rapidly but, at the same time, the number of consumers who are using the channel are exceptionally low compared to the number who shop in person or who buy over the internet on their laptops and desktops.

There are a number of reasons that people have hesitated to turn to their smartphones to buy.

People frequently hold back from shopping via smartphone and tablet because mobile commerce often comes with slow internet speeds, improperly optimized websites, long page load times, and concerns over the security of payments. Despite the fact that online shopping no matter where the consumer may be provides a tremendous opportunity for convenience, variety, and price comparisons but even the best apps and websites often lead individuals to learn about a product and then purchase it on a desktop or in a brick and mortar store instead of buying over that channel.

However, many mobile commerce using companies are working to boost the numbers.

The latest sales data from Capgemini and IMRG have shown that from the second quarter of last year to the same quarter this year, there was an increase in mobile commerce sales from 11.6 percent of online purchases to 23 percent.

There are many reasons that consumers are still hesitating to buy over mobile commerce. They include the following:

• Reduced internet performance that doesn’t meet the expectations of consumers.
• Heavy page weight that leads to increased load times.
• Redirection issues
• Security concerns

A mobile commerce survey in which 728 people participated showed that among all of the various tasks that people complete using their smartphones or tablets, “reserve and collect” services, and “shopping online” were still lower than many companies would hope. Among those respondents, only 9 percent shopped online and 27 percent used reserve and collect services (where an item is ordered to be put aside in a store and the customer picks it up in person). This suggests to many that a “click to collect” service may be more appealing to consumers than actually completing the order to be shipped online by way of a small screen device.