Category: Mobile Commerce

New service will allow consumers to make mobile transactions without using their hands

South Korean telecommunications company SK Telecom is launching a hands-free mobile payments service that features its own rewards program. The new service, called T Pay, has already accrued 100,000 subscribers, who will be able to make use of its Bluetooth technology to make payments without having to hold their mobile devices. All purchases made through the service will be charged to customer’s existing mobile phone bills and consumers above the age of 19 will have a $427 purchasing limit through the service every month.

Mobile commerce is gaining popularity among younger consumers

Approximately 65% of T Pay’s current subscribers are aged in their 20s and 30s. Among this demographic, mobile payments have become quite popular. Many of these people are relying heavily on their mobile devices to shop online and in physical stores and the demand for loyalty programs is growing among consumers. SK Telecom is looking to take advantage of growing interest in mobile commerce in the hopes to establish more success in this sector. Competition in this market is quite fierce, however, which has lead SK Telecom to develop an innovative new service in order to establish a competitive edge.

Voice commands will be used to make mobile transactions through T Pay

After downloading the T Pay application, consumers can purchase items with a simple voice command. A store’s point-of-sale system would collect payment information from a mobile device’s Bluetooth technology. Cashiers would identify a user through the use of a nickname and a mobile phone number, which would appear on the screen of their point-of-sale system. SK Telecom believes that this is one of the most economical and convenient ways for consumers to make purchases in physical stores.

Loyalty program may make T Pay more attractive to consumers

Customers that use T Pay to make purchases will also gain access to special discounts through the T Membership program. The program is designed to reward consumers for their loyalty to the new mobile payments service. Such programs have been in high demand recently, as mobile consumers want more value out of the new payment services that they are making use of.

Smartphone based shopping habits differ from one country to the next, according to a study across 11 markets.

German affiliate marketing network, Zanox, has conducted a data analysis across the 11 international primarily European markets in which it functions, in order to understand the mobile commerce behaviors of the people who live there.

What it determined was that there is actually quite a difference in the way m-commerce is used.

When looking at these habits from one country to the next, consumers use mobile commerce as a different part of their shopping behaviors. What the study revealed was that the United Kingdom and many of the Nordic countries use this technology the most frequently, while Switzerland records the smallest number of mobile transactions. That said, at the same time, Switzerland produces the highest average order value, particularly when it comes to the online travel industry.

This mobile commerce data was released as a part of the Zanox mobile Performance Barometer bi-annual report.

The markets that were included within this report were the United Kingdom, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Eastern Europe, Benelux, Italy, the Nordic countries, Germany and France.

There were some notable differences that were found to occur from one country or market to the next. For instance, in Spain, there is a traditional summer break that spans from July through September which affected consumer behaviors. During that same span of time, Italy saw a doubling of its transactions when compared to the activity they registered in March.

The periods in which countries traditionally take extended breaks and holidays were also those in which there were the strongest travel bookings made over mobile shopping channels. The increase in mobile sales was comparable in France and Eastern Europe, as they both reached a peak near the end of the year.

That said, throughout all the mobile commerce markets included in this study, there was a notable increase recorded. The boost in growth rates revealed that there has yet to be a maturation of the smartphone based shopping experience and that it continues to steadily develop, said the report that Zanox issued on its findings for the last half year.