Category: Mobile Commerce

Paytm will be launching hyperlocal services in the near future

Paytm, one of India’s leading mobile commerce firms, is gearing up to launch new hyperlocal services that consumers may find valuable. Such services have already established a foothold in India, with consumers using them to find deals and special offers in their local areas. Paytm believes that consumers using the service will become more involved with mobile commerce, as it will allow them to rely more on their mobile devices when shopping and ordering food.

Hyperlocal services may encourage more consumers to become involved in mobile commerce

Initially, the hyperlocal service coming from Paytm will focus on food ordering, table booking, purchasing cinema tickets, and finding deals in their neighborhood. The company has patrnered with BookMyShow and Zomato in order to make the service available. Paytm has high hopes for the hyperlocal service, hoping to bring in nearly half of its total sales from this channel specifically by 2016. This goal may be very attainable, as many consumers have become heavily invested in mobile commerce as a whole.

Hyperlocal may be the next big opportunity for retailers and mobile commerce firms

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO of Paytm, believes that hyperlocal services are the “next big thing” for the mobile commerce space. He believes that hyperlocal services represent the perfect blend of the convenience of mobile shopping and the engagement potential that retails see in the mobile market. With smartphone penetration on the rise in India, as well as the expansion of the country’s mobile network infrastructure, more consumers are expected to become involved in mobile commerce in the coming years.

Paytm is receiving strong support from foreign companies

Paytm has reached the 100 million user mark and the company suggests that its user base, as a collective, makes 75 million mobile transactions every month. Paytm has experienced so much growth and success that it has also attracted the support of other companies involved in mobile commerce. China’s Alibaba and Ant Financial recently invested in Paytm through One97 Communications, its parent company. This investment is expected to help Paytm expand its services throughout India.

A new report from the research firm has shown that by the close of 2016, sales will break the $142 billion mark.

Forrester Research has now released a new report that it has entitled its “U.S. Mobile Phone and Tablet Commerce Forecast, 2015 to 2020” and within it, it has shown that the close of this year will break $115 billion in transactions and they will only head upward from there.

The report also goes on to say that by the end of next year, m-commerce sales will explode past $142 billion.

Principal analyst at Forrester Research, Sucharita Mulpuru, who is also the firm’s vice president, explained that “We project that mobile phones will generate 15 percent of eCommerce sales by 2020, and tablets will generate 33 percent of eCommerce sales in the same time frame.” She also explained that as smartphones are rapidly becoming a main computing device for many consumers, it is surprising that those mobile commerce figures aren’t even higher than they already are.

The report from Forrester has placed the spotlight on many of the challenges creating a barrier to mobile commerce.

Although merchants have said that about a third of its current online traffic comes from mobile devices, the number of actual sales that are occurring over smartphones and tablets is only 11 percent. This shows that while people are visiting sites to check out brands, products, and stores, they aren’t actually using those same gadgets to make their purchases. When they do buy, it’s more likely to be in person or over a laptop.

Mulpuru stated that “Shoppers experience slow download speeds on smartphones in particular, and few retailers have managed to increase their mobile conversion rates over the years.” Most of the sales that are occurring over m-commerce are happening within three primary categories, which means that the majority of sectors remain underpenetrated and still have a great deal of unused potential. Those categories will need to go a long way before they will be able to experience success over that channel.

At the same time, there are also retailers who have been successful by way of mobile commerce innovations. In Forrester’s report, the firm explained that eBay and Amazon, combined, take in about one third of all shopping that is completed over smartphones and tablets in the United States.