Survey highlights importance of mobile commerce during holiday season
Sybase 365, a mobile services and mobile commerce solutions provider, and the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) have released the results on a new survey concerning the role mobile devices will play in the U.S. holiday season. Mobile technology has become rampantly popular in the U.S., and many consumers have smart phones and tablets that allow them to participate in mobile commerce. Consumers have been showing a great deal of interest in using their mobile devices to shop, bank, and pay for goods over the past few years, and this may come to a head during the 2012 holiday season.
87% of consumers to use their mobile devices to research products
According to the survey, which focused on 1,000 adult consumers throughout the U.S., approximately 87% of all consumers will be using their mobile devices to make purchase decisions during the holiday season. Many consumers will be relying on their mobile device to find out information on products that they are interested in, with other using their devices to find deals and net themselves significant savings that may only be available online.
50% of consumers to purchase products through their mobile device
The survey also shows that 50% of consumers will be using their mobile devices to make purchases, while another 61% claimed they would be willing to participate in mobile commerce if improvements to security and infrastructure were made. Currently, using a smart phone to make purchases at a physical store is a practice limited to consumers with NFC-enabled devices. These devices are rare, as are the point of sale terminals that are capable of facilitating mobile payments. Security has also been an issue that has put off many consumers.
Mobile commerce could gain momentum through the holiday season
Despite consumer concerns, mobile commerce is growing in the U.S. The holiday season is expected to provide the burgeoning industry with significant momentum, especially as retailers get a better understanding of how mobile commerce can impact their business during the busiest and most important time of year for the retail industry as a whole.
Google confronted with the problems of NFC technology
Despite the growing popularity surrounding mobile commerce, NFC technology has hit a rough patch in the global community. Mobile commerce relies heavily on NFC technology in order to function adequately. While the technology has proven very capable of facilitating mobile payments, it has run afoul of security groups and consumers who consider the technology to be a liability to their financial information. Google is one of the many companies that has invested heavily into NFC technology and now has to confront the question of whether they will be able to find profit in doing so.
Google Wallet has yet to impress consumers
NFC technology has seen a great deal of success amongst businesses. The technology has attracted investments and support largely because of its potential in the realm of mobile commerce. NFC often finds a home in mobile applications called mobile wallets. These platforms enable consumers with smart phones and other mobile devices to make payments using the financial information stored by the platform. Last year, Google launched the Google Wallet, which brought NFC-based mobile payments to a wide range of consumers. The platform was not well received by many, however.
Security fumbles at launch leave consumers leery
Google Wallet was plagued with problems at its launch. The platform even fell victim to simple “brute force” hacking, which could have put the financial information of consumers at serious risk. Google has since bolstered the security features of its mobile commerce platform, but the company’s initial security blunders cost it the favor of many consumers. Consumers around the world have begun showing a great deal of reluctance concerning mobile commerce, largely because of the lackluster security they are seeing from he companies involved in the burgeoning industry.
Google has time to see success from Wallet platform
Google has not yet seen return on its investment in the Google Wallet. The company has a profit margin of 22% and an operating margin of 28%, so Google has some time to spare before it has to take action and address the performance of the mobile commerce platform. Google Wallet is not the only venture in mobile commerce that Google is currently involved in, but it may become the company’s flagship if it can overcome the problems it is facing.
