Tag: smartphone shopping

Mobile commerce sparks major growth in the retail sector

E-commerce is growing in China, backed heavily by an interest among consumers in mobile commerce. Jingdong Mall, the country’s largest online retailer, has announced receiving more than $700 million in funding from a consortium of investors that are interested in the company’s prospects in e-commerce. The funds are expected to help expand the company’s digital operations and new business ventures. Jingdong Mall is not the only retailer that has been seeing heavy investment activity recently. Several others have been finding success through a stronger focus on mobile commerce and the consumers enthralled by mobile technology.

Transaction volume growing quickly due to online shopping

According to a recent report from the E-Commerce Research Center, digital payment volume in China’s retail sector has been growing aggressively. By the end of December, 2012, online transaction volume in the retail market reached more than $160 billion, a growth of more than 64% over what this volume had been in 2011. The number of online shoppers has also increased in the country, reaching 247 million consumers by the end of 2012. Many of these consumers made purchases throughout the year using their mobile device.

Consumers show favor for mobile shopping

The growth of mobile commerce and e-commerce is expected to have a significant impact on physical retailers in the coming years. Many of these retailers in China has begun making the transition toward e-commerce, with tentative plans to abandon their old brick-and-mortar shops at some point in the future. Those that have no plans to embrace e-commerce may find some success through the adoption of mobile commerce, but this success may be short lived as consumers begin to favor online platforms for shopping.

Internet connection proves to be a problem for mobile commerce

The development of mobile Internet continues to gain speed in China. As consumers gain access to better Internet connections, they will be more likely to participate in mobile commerce. Currently, slow load times for e-commerce sites and digital retail services keep many consumers from participating in mobile commerce. The retail sector is working to alleviate this issue, however, in order to capitalize on the prospects of mobile consumers.

There are many drivers that are sending this channel right to the brink of its fastest increase yet.

The mcommerce world is sitting right at the very edge of the fastest growth that it has ever experienced, and there are a number of reasons that this already rapid increase is about to take off like never before.

A recent report has identified some of the drivers that are sending the mobile figures skywards.

One of the most common leisure time activities among today’s consumer is to watch television while holding a smartphone or tablet device. This second screen makes it possible to investigate all manner of topics, ideas, and products that appear on the television before the consumer. The mcommerce industry is not oblivious to this trend and is working very hard to create smartphone and tablet friendly sites and apps that will relate to what is being seen on the televisions so that it becomes possible to capitalize on this activity.

This mcommerce trend is known as the “second screen”, where two devices are used for watching television.

This occurs when the viewer is watching television but uses the smaller device in order to provide support information. A new BI Intelligence report is now showing that second screen, as well as a number of other drivers, are sending mcommerce rapidly skyward at what will soon be an explosive rate. Among the other drivers that were named include smartphone optimized websites and social networks.

Companies are beginning to use their carefully devised tools to help to monitor how second screen audiences are using their smartphones and tablets in order to enhance their television watching experience. The goal is to use this opportunity to improve the mcommerce offerings in a way that they will be seen as more useful and that they will help to encourage greater conversion rates and sales.

The report also named additional reasons that illustrate why second screen based mcommerce will certainly succeed. These include: rapid usage growth, widespread acceptance and adoption, well established activity, and the ease of creating bridges through sites and apps designed specifically for this experience.