Category: Mobile Payments

Mobile shoppers are showing favor for applications, with many using apps to visit Flipkart and purchase products

Flipkart, one of India’s largest e-commerce companies, is beginning to see more success in the mobile commerce space. According to data from SimilarWeb, a data analytics firm, some 47% of Flipkarts visits now come through mobile shopping applications. The retailer has shown a great deal of interest in mobile commerce over the years and has been working harder to engage consumers with mobile devices. Flipkart now beats out other companies that have become involved in India’s mobile commerce space.

Consumers are making use of mobile applications to get their shopping done online

Flipkart also leads the way in total application installs in India. The company’s mobile shopping app is on approximately 37% of all Android devices in India. Consumers are becoming quite interested in mobile commerce and they have been turning to apps to get their shopping done. These apps provide them with access to convenient shopping and more retailers are beginning to rely on shopping applications in order to effectively engage consumers. Consumers are also making use of mobile websites, which some prefer to applications.

India is growing to become one of the world’s leading mobile commerce markets

India has become one of the world’s fastest growing mobile commerce markets, alongside China. Indeed, e-commerce companies from China are beginning to show strong support for those in India, hoping to augment their success in the mobile commerce field. Companies responsible for mobile payments platforms also see great promise in India, especially as more consumers become involved in mobile shopping.

Mobile devices are becoming powerful tools for consumers interested in shopping online

Mobile commerce has become a very powerful force in India. The e-commerce market is dominated by mobile, with smartphones accounting for some 70% of the traffic that retailers are seeing online. Conventional computers, which had once been the primary tool for consumers shopping online, now account for 30% of all online traffic. Consumers are becoming heavily reliant on their mobile devices and believe that mobile commerce represents a more convenient way of shopping.

The number of businesses and shoppers using their smartphones to pay is rising more rapidly.

According to the results of a recent data analysis by Gartner, there are more consumers and businesses, alike, that are starting to try out mobile payments and wallets app, to test the technology for themselves.

That said, there are also a growing number of offerings showing up in the mobile wallet app market.

Among those making the most noise is Apple Pay, which was launched by Apple in October 2014. That said, it is far from alone in the mobile payments sphere, as Android Pay has also been released by Google. Samsung Pay was launched by Samsung Electronics Co to throw its hat into the ring. Moreover, there are quite a few that are currently in development. Among the most notable is CurrentC, which is the mobile wallet being created by a consortium of restaurants and major retailers.

That said, individual retailers are also starting to come up with their own mobile payments offerings.

Over the holiday season, Walmart announced that it was developing a mobile wallet service that would allow its shoppers to pay for their purchases at the store using their smartphones, charging the purchase to any major credit card or to one of the brand’s gift cards. This feature is going to be worked into the existing mobile app from the company.

Similarly, Target also announced that it would be adding a mobile wallet feature to its mobile application. That announcement caused quite a bit of confusion, as Target is one of the businesses in the aforementioned consortium, and the retailer was certain to make it clear that it had no intentions for exiting that group.

Until now, mobile wallets haven’t really been all that popular among consumers, but they are reaching the point in which they are beginning to pick up a bit of steam. Gartner research director, Penny Gillespie explained that “When you ask consumers about mobile payments, they pretty much tell you they’re not interested — not everyone, but the majority of buyers.” She also went on to say that one of the main reasons is that consumers are essentially satisfied with their current payment options, including credit and debit cards, checks and cash.