Mobile Commerce

Category: Mobile Commerce

Tablet commerce is undergoing explosive growth

Rebecca | April 11, 2013

These mobile devices are giving PCs a run for their money in terms of the increase in their use.

The latest tablet commerce projections have just been released by Gartner, which have revealed that the smaller handheld devices are exploding in popularity and that they may overtake laptops and desktops.

The trend has indicated that the current growth in sales is not showing any indication of slowing for several years.

At the same time, while tablet commerce is expected to grow very rapidly and continue to do so for at least several years, it is unlikely that they will become the device of choice for taking on tasks requiring greater productivity. This would require them to be equipped with peripherals and monitors, to the point that they would more closely resemble desktops and laptops than their actual tablet form.

The Gartner report is crediting the lower priced devices with the rapid growth of tablet commerce.

With the falling prices and the fact that they are relatively new to the market, they are expected to overtake PCs – which are already well established and are typically being replaced as opposed to being purchased for the first time – within the next five years.

Experts in the industry are cautioning people not to misinterpret these predictions. While it does look as though tablets and smartphones could start shipping at a rate of 2.4 billion units worldwide this year – an increase of 9 percent over last year – it doesn’t mean that the laptop has seen its day. These devices are all being used for their own unique purposes, and their affordability means that the increasingly tech savvy consumer is purchasing multiple devices as opposed to selecting one over all of the others.

This does, however, represent a meaningful shift in the way that people can shop. It means that they will have a multitude of different devices available to them when they decide to research or even purchase a product or service. For this reason, the rapid growth of tablet commerce will likely becoming increasingly important to retailers and other merchants who wish to maintain their competitive edge by providing consumers the experience that they are seeking and expecting.

Mobile payments research study reveals explosive growth trend

JT | April 11, 2013

According to a new study, mobile transactions will become more prominent in the future.

The results of a recent study, conducted by Javelin Strategy and Research, has found that mobile payments have increased in popularity and that over the course of the next five years, they are likely to be the payment method that grows the fastest compared to all other types of transactions.

More consumers will turn to mobile devices to make in-store purchases.

While online shopping has gained a lot of attention, researchers who performed the Javelin study discovered that despite the popularity of e-commerce, 93% of the entire U.S. retail dollar volume is made up in brick and mortar retail stores. The study went on to report that it will not be long before mobile payments start to have a profound effect on the retail POS (point-of-sale) market.

Mobile payments are predicted to exceed $5 billion by 2018.

Results of the Javelin study revealed that the POS retail market is developing at an incredible speed. This is due mostly to the ever-increasing popularity of both the mobile payments and e-commerce markets. Consumers of today want a fast and convenient shopping experience and it is believed that digitized transaction methods will allow shoppers to achieve the superior in-store experience they not only crave, but expect.

Although mobile payments have yet to become one of the top payment options among retail shoppers, this is anticipated to change within the next five years. According to the study, by 2018, mobile payments in the U.S. will hit $5.4 billion. That being said, the researchers did also point out that they approximate retail POS purchases on the whole will be worth closer to the $4.2 trillion mark in 2018.

However, despite this much larger overall number, the amount estimated for mobile transactions appears to be nothing short of extraordinary. What’s more, the Javelin Strategy and Research study mentioned that, within five years, mobile payments will surpass all other types of payments in terms of having the biggest compound annual growth rate. Thus, in such a rapidly changing environment that is becoming more and more mobile-friendly, a big change in POS retail market trends is highly likely.