Author: BWild

Consumers are using their mobile devices to shop online in Turkey

Mobile commerce is on the rise in Turkey, where a growing number of consumers are beginning to use their smartphones to shop for products online. Hepsiburada.com, a leading retailer in Turkey, has reported that mobile traffic has grown significantly over the past year. According to the retailer, 62% of the sites traffic comes from mobile devices. Smartphone adoption has accelerated throughout the country has powered the growth of mobile commerce.

Retailers are reporting growing mobile traffic and sales

According to Hepsiburada.com, one in every two orders made through the site is done so using a mobile device. Consumers have shown that they are very interested in mobile shopping due to its convenient nature. Other retailers have reported an increase in mobile traffic and shopping as well. The Informatics Industry Association has reported that e-commerce volume reached $6.2 billion in 2014, with mobile commerce accounting for a significant degree of this increase in volume.

11 million smartphones expected to be sold in Turkey by the end of this year

Mobile commerce represents a $3 billion business and more consumers are beginning to use their devices to shop online rather than visit physical stores. According to GFK, a market research firm based in Germany, more than 4.5 million smartphones were sold in Turkey during the first five months of this year. By the end of the year, more than 11 million smartphones are expected to be sold throughout the country. Many consumers believe that mobile commerce represents an easier way to shop for products.

Mobile commerce continues to experience explosive growth throughout the world

Mobile commerce has been growing significantly throughout the world, with China, Japan, and South Korea emerging as the most prominent mobile markets. In Europe, mobile shopping is becoming a very powerful force for the retail industry and more companies are beginning to invest in the mobile space in order to effectively engage consumers that are relying on their mobile devices. In the coming years, mobile commerce is expected to continue seeing significant growth throughout the world.

A recent study has forecasted that within a span of 7 years from now, the industry will reach $3 trillion.

The Bank of America Merrill Lynch has now released a report in which it has stated that in a period of 7 year, mobile payments will have grown by 200 times their previous size and will be worth more than $3 trillion.

If this prediction is correct, then wallet and banking apps, retailers, and telecoms are about to benefit greatly.

The report indicated that those who are most likely to benefit from this growth of mobile payments are: banking, telecom, IT, and mobile wallet firms. The report stated that “In India, we consider mobile payments to be both an opportunity (for banks, telcos and new players) and threat (due to dis-intermediation, more to the traditional banks). We estimate the value of mobile banking, estimated at just USD16 billion today to rise 200x in 7 years to more than USD 3,000 billion.”

It is also expected that mobile payments will make up 10 percent of the total transactions in that country.

This is quite the increase, considering that for the 2015 financial year, smartphone payments made up only 0.1 percent of the total. The report stated that this will be a considerable opportunity for many companies involved in that industry to better their “competitive positioning.” Equally, the report noted that it would mean that there would suddenly be considerable competition making its way into the space that had previously been held by public sector banks.

As the payments technology evolves, it is expected that the use of paper cash will have dropped to under 2 percent. The report predicted that the range of alternative methods of payment will lead to a gradual decrease in the use of cash throughout the economy, and that electronic payments will help to ease the lending rates and will encourage growth over time.

It pointed out that among the primary drivers behind the growth of the use of alternative transactions will be in the improvements of mobile payments through greater smartphone penetration. That penetration in India is expected to double in the country’s young population over the next three years. As 60 percent of the population is younger than 35 years old, this represents a massive shift in digital technology use.