Author: BWild

Tencent is setting its hopes on mobile commerce

Tencent is growing bolder when it comes to the mobile space

Tencent, one of China’s largest online retail and technology organizations, has seen profits from the mobile sector soar over the past several months. The company has long held a strong place in the mobile space, but has only recently begun to heavily involve itself therein through social media, gaming, and commerce. As the company continues to grow, it is beginning to become more cavalier with its mobile interests, launching new initiatives and services that are meant to enthrall mobile consumers throughout China.

Company continues to fight competition and attract support from consumers

Tencent is currently valued at over $120 billion, making it one of the largest and most influential business entities in the country and a competitor of the Alibaba Group, which is another massive organization based in China. The majority of Tencent’s success has been made in the gaming field, where its mobile games and publishing services have managed to win the favor of consumers and game developers alike. Gaming is not enough for Tencent, however, and the company has begun to focus more heavily on mobile and e-commerce.

E-commerce proves to be a tough battleground for Tencent

Mobile Commerce - TencentIn terms of mobile commerce, Tencent has recently made updates to its massively popular WeChat application. These updates have introduced new features to the application that allow it to serve as a mobile shopping platform. The application can also be used to make payments for particular goods and services. The company has found success in the mobile field, but has not been able to mimic this success when it comes to e-commerce. Tencent has struggled for some time to establish a strong foothold in the e-commerce realm due to various challenges and strong competition coming from Alibaba.

WeChat may become the defacto mobile commerce platform for many people

Tencent is unwilling to abandon e-commerce, but the company may be focusing more heavily on the mobile space for the foreseeable future. The WeChat application is already the most widely used mobile app in the world, which also makes it one of the most widely used mobile commerce platforms. To date, no singular mobile commerce service has managed to attract the support of any significant majority demographic, but WeChat may be able to accomplish this goal.

United Nations adopts mobile commerce service from Etisalat

Flous mobile commerce service to be used by UN agency in Togo, Africa

Etisalat, a leading telecommunications organization in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, has announced that its mobile commerce service, called Flous, has been adopted by the United Nations’ Population Fund Agency. The agency will be using Flous to transfer salaries of more than 6,000 of its agents working in Togo. The mobile commerce platform has managed to acquire a significant amount of praise from those that have used it in many parts of the world and the platform is expected to meet the needs of the UN agency.

Service will allow agents to access their funds from a mobile device and pay for products and bills online

The Population Fund Agency in Togo is the first United Nations organization to adopt the service developed by Etisalat. The service will also those with an Etisalat account to access their funds through their mobile device. They will be able to use their smartphones and tablets to purchase products online with relative ease. Mobile shopping has become quite popular in Africa, especially as a growing number of people gain access to smartphones and similar devices.

Mobile shopping continues to grow due to its convenience

Mobile Commerce ServiceMobile shopping represents a certain degree of convenience for people living in many parts of the world. Those with limited personal time can benefit from mobile shopping, purchasing the products they need during long commutes. Mobile shopping can also exist as a way to get away from the crowds that are typically found at physical stores. These crowds can be a cause for anxiety among some people and mobile shopping could be an appropriate escape from such situations.

Lack of mobile infrastructure may hinder the growth of mobile services

Some infrastructure challenges may prevent the Flous platform from finding initial success in Togo. Mobile commerce is still quite new and many countries have not yet taken the steps necessary to accommodate mobile consumers. As such, relatively few retailers, utilities, and other businesses in Togo accept mobile payments currently, but this may change as mobile commerce continues to grow in popularity.