Tag: canadian mobile commerce

Despite the fact that consumers in Canada want to use their smartphones to buy, it’s not meeting their expectations.

According to the 2015 Holiday Shopping Survey from Accenture, consumers in Canada are actually eager to embrace mobile commerce, but retailers aren’t providing them with the type of experience that meets their expectations.

This means that most Canadian shoppers who would use smartphones are turning to laptops instead.

Canadians aren’t happy with what retailers are offering them by way of mobile commerce, so they are having to fall back on more traditional channels such as laptops and brick and mortars stores throughout the holiday shopping season. This, despite the fact that many shoppers across the country have said that they would be interested in using their devices to buy throughout this most important shopping season of the year. Almost half of the consumers who said they enjoy shopping in-store claimed that they liked it enough to continue their purchasing right through Christmas, itself.

Even though smartphone penetration is high in Canada, only 2 percent of Canadians use mobile commerce for most shopping.

Canada is one of the countries with the highest amount of smartphone use. Still, only 2 percent of the shoppers in that nation will be using their mobile devices for the majority of their holiday purchasing this year. The mobile apps and smartphone optimized websites are not swaying consumers to use their favorite devices for buying.

Among the leading reasons that shoppers in the country are staying away from m-commerce are that they have security concerns (38 percent), they are frustrated with retailers that haven’t mobile optimized their sites (28 percent) and they simply find it too difficult to be able to locate the products they want on retailer sites and apps (18 percent).

According to the Accenture managing director of retail, Robin Sahota, “The way Canadians think about shopping for the holidays is changing, and retailers must offer a more enhanced mobile browsing and shopping experience to drive sales at the busiest time of year.” Sahota went on to say that consumer demand remains high during the 2015 holiday shopping season and over a third of customers intend to spend more this year than last year; it just won’t necessarily be done over mobile commerce.

Commuters are interested in shopping with their mobile devices

Many Canadians commute to work, and a growing number of these people are beginning to shop on their mobile devices while commuting. A new survey from Ipsos Reid shows that more people are becoming involved in mobile commerce. These consumers have found that they can shop in a convenient manner without having to visit a physical store and mobile commerce allows consumers to conduct their shopping while traveling.

Mobile commerce continues to gain traction with consumers, especially those with long commutes

This increasingly prominent trend has given rise to the term “commuter commerce,” which specifically refers to those participating in mobile commerce while commuting. The survey from Ipsos shows that approximately 14% of people engage in this form of shopping, with 75% of commuters noting that they would consider mobile shopping if they needed to but products. Those that did make purchases from a mobile device while commuting noted that they did so in a variety of manners.

Consumers appear to be most interested in purchasing tickets and clothing

Tickets for entertainment events were among the most popular products purchased by consumers on mobile devices. Clothes were also quite popular, with 62% of consumers noting they used their mobile devices to purchase these products. The survey showed that 70% of respondents said that they would like to browse their favorite stores while commuting. This may put more pressure on retailers, many of whom have not yet embraced the world of mobile commerce.

Mobile commerce continues to grow and place pressure on retailers to adapt

Mobile commerce is quickly becoming a powerful force in the Canadian retail space. Many merchants have found that their customers are becoming more reliant on mobile devices, using these devices to either research or purchase products while in physical stores. As this trend continues to grow, retailers are feeling the need to embrace mobile commerce in order to better connect with consumers. Retailers in Canada have, however, been slow to adopt new payment solutions, which has limited the growth of mobile commerce throughout the country.