Author: Stephen

Facebook takes a step toward mobile commerce

| August 20, 2013

Social network begins showing interest in mobile commerce

Facebook may be stepping into the mobile commerce arena as it begins testing its own mobile payments system. The social network has been looking for ways to improve its standing in the stock market and provide more value to the services it provides to consumers. Recently, this endeavor has manifested itself through the social network’s stronger focus on mobile marketing and providing analytic services to advertisers. Now, however, Facebook may be switching gears to embrace a trend that has been growing in popularity among consumers recently: Mobile commerce.

New service aims to streamline mobile payments

The social network is currently testing a service that will function as a companion to PayPal’s e-commerce services. The current stage of the test involves Facebook’s payments service to store and fill-in a consumer’s financial information in order to streamline the process of making a purchase using a mobile device. The service is meant to use this information to make the purchase of Facebook Gifts more convenient. The service is also meant to streamline in-game purchases for the various games that are supported on the social network.

Mobile Commerce - Facebook mobile paymentsFacebook won’t compete with PayPal or others

While Facebook is showing some interest in mobile commerce, the social network does not yet have any intention of competing with companies like PayPal in this sector. Currently, Facebook is primarily interested in making mobile payments easier for consumers. Considering that a fair amount of the social network’s users access the platform from their smartphones and tablets, the company is keen to ensure that these users are able to use the social network to their benefit.

New service could be a benefit to Facebook

This new initiative could be a major benefit for Facebook. It will allow the social network to determine whether ad-clicks turn into sales, which could provide the company with a stronger standing in the marketing sector. If this is the case, it could also meant significant return-on-investment for the advertisers that have been using the social network to reach out to and connect with its users.

Mobile commerce competition begins heating up

| August 15, 2013

Competition between mobile commerce companies may soon erupt

Competition within the mobile commerce sector has long been fierce, but as more companies become comfortable with the technological aspects of this sector, competition is beginning to heat up among large mobile commerce groups. ROAM, a specialist in mobile commerce technology, is expecting to see strong growth in the coming years. The company is set to add 50 new employees to its workforce, surpassing Square, another mobile commerce company.

ROAM begins catching up to Square

Square is currently considered one of the leaders in the mobile commerce sector. The company has deployed mobile point-of-sale systems to retailers and other businesses throughout the U.S. Square also boasts of being involved in one of the most successful mobile commerce partnerships in the world between itself and Starbucks. ROAM, however, is beginning to catch up to its competitor. Over the past four years, ROAM has deployed more than 2 million mobile commerce systems throughout the U.S.

Mobile commerce competition heats upROAM manages to attract businesses interested in mobile commerce

ROAM has not experienced the level of growth that Square has largely due to the fact that the company’s technology is designed for reseller partners. ROAM CEO Ken Paull suggests that the company is a “well-kept secret,” but that does not necessarily detract from its influence within the mobile commerce sector. As the company continues to grow, it is becoming better positioned to directly compete with Square, which has managed to establish a strong foothold within the mobile commerce sector due to brand loyalty.

ROAM offers wide variety of mobile commerce services to merchants

ROAM claims to provide merchants with the full gamut of mobile commerce services. Paull suggests that no other company provides merchants with more services than ROAM, which has made the company relatively popular among businesses that are interested in mobile commerce. ROAM provides both hardware and software to these businesses, and allows them to be branded according to the client that is making use of these technologies.