Wal-Mart sees mobile commerce as a major part of its holiday season
The holiday season is here and t
hat is good news for retailers. Thanksgiving and Christmas are two of the biggest holidays for the retail industry because these are days in which these companies see the most traffic, both digital and physical. Retailers have been seeing a growing trend amongst consumers that suggests that mobile commerce is becoming a popular way to purchase products. Wal-Mart, one of the world’s largest retail companies, notes that this interest in mobile commerce is gaining a massive amount of momentum amongst consumers and may have a significant presence during the 2012 holiday season.
Retailer expects sizable portion of traffic will come from mobile consumers
Wal-Mart senior vice president of mobile and digital strategy Gibu Thomas suggests that a sizable portion of the company’s consumers will make purchases from smart phones, tablets, and other mobile devices this year. The retailer has been tracking the growing popularity of mobile commerce within its stores throughout the year and saw significant mobile traffic during the 2011 holiday season. As such, Wal-Mart stores are beginning to find new ways to provide service to consumers that would rather make use of mobile commerce platforms and shopping applications.
40% of shoppers expected to be mobile
Thomas suggests that more than 40% of shoppers visiting Wal-Mart stores will do so electronically during the 2012 holiday season. The retail giant sees this as a promising opportunity and has begun working to revamp its mobile shopping application, which has been downloaded millions of times all over the world. The application will receive updates that will make it more inclusive of mobile commerce and marketing in the hopes of engaging consumers that favor their mobile device over traditional forms of commerce.
Wal-Mart throws more support behind its mobile commerce efforts
Wal-Mart already boasts of a strong Internet presence and has managed to cater well to mobile consumers. Mobile commerce has, however, been relatively low on the retailer’s priority list until very recently. The company is seeing more people adopt mobile commerce platform and is keen to not be left behind by these consumers over a matter of service. As such, Wal-Mart is committed to finding ways to engage these consumers and provide them with services they want to see.
