Author: Stephen

Facebook reveals new mobile commerce product

| May 6, 2014

Facebook’s Autofill product has been unveiled at the company’s own developer’s conference

Facebook has unveiled a new mobile commerce product at its f8 developer’s conference. The company has been showing more interest in mobile payments for some time and has been taking steps to help facilitate mobile shopping through its social network in order to cater to the interests of its users.  The new product is called “Autofill” and is meant to simplify the process of making payments from a mobile device.

Autofil aims to make mobile shopping more efficient and enjoyable for consumers

Autofill is designed to make payments simpler by removing the need to input financial information multiple times. Facebook began testing this product last year while it was exploring ways to improve the mobile shopping experience for consumers. The testing phase allowed Facebook to form a better understanding of the mobile commerce space and the expectations that consumers have therein. Using this information, Facebook aimed to develop a product that could bring more efficiency to the mobile shopping experience.

Facebook has been slow to enter into the mobile payments space, focusing instead on marketing

Mobile Commerce - FacebookFacebook has been relatively slow to embrace mobile payments when compared to similar companies. This is largely because the company has become heavily focused on mobile marketing. Facebook has been working to leverage itself as a mobile advertising platform in order to attract new investors and provide services to companies interested in engaging mobile consumers. As Facebook becomes more confident in its advertising services, it is beginning to expand its focus to other mobile-centric sectors.

Autofill may become popular if it manages to enhance the mobile shopping experience

Exactly how popular the Autofill product will be among consumers is impossible to determine at this time. There is generally little hype behind the product, but consumers have shown that they are often on the lookout for new mobile commerce products that can improve their shopping experience. If Autofill can accomplish this task, it may become a very popular product that could have a major impact on how people experience mobile shopping in the relatively near future.

Lack of interest in wallet platforms is impacting mobile payments

| May 1, 2014

Consumers have little interest in mobile wallets, seeing them as relatively useless

In the U.S., consumers are finding the concept of mobile wallets difficult to understand. For several years, people have been using their smartphones and tablets for a variety of activities, including hailing cabs, purchasing products online, and reviewing products and services that they are interested in. For the most part, mobile wallets are never used for such activity, which has left many people wondering why these platforms are being so heavily promoted by companies participating in the mobile commerce space.

Wallets may not offer consumers the services that they are interested in using on a daily basis

Mobile wallets are quite straightforward in their purpose. These platforms are meant to serve as digital counterparts to physical wallets. As such, they store the financial information of their users as well as a wide variety of other digital content. All of this information can be easily accessed by users of mobile devices, but this convenience has done little to wind over the hearts of consumers. Those finding mobile wallets unnecessary are not able to see what these platforms offer than traditional wallets do not.

Falling support for wallet platforms may have a negative impact on mobile commerce

lack of interest negatively impacts mobile paymentsThe relative malaise that people seem to have with mobile wallets has had an impact on mobile payments. Many companies specializing in mobile commerce have placed their hopes on mobile wallets. If these platforms are not being used, consumers are not likely to be making mobile payments. There are mobile commerce services that are not associated with wallet platforms, but many of the largest companies working in this sector are pushing for consumers to embrace the concept of mobile wallets.

Merchants are showing relatively low interest in mobile wallet platforms

Consumers are not the only ones that are showing disinterest in mobile wallets, of course. Merchants also have yet to be won over by the capabilities of wallet platforms. Many of these merchants are somewhat interested in mobile payments, but are not willing to support wallet platforms in order to accommodate mobile consumers.