Tag: m-commerce trends

M-commerce is experiencing more widespread acceptance

| March 22, 2013

m-commerce acceptanceThe results of newly released research have pointed to greater adoption of shopping over smartphones and tablets.

Stibo Systems has just released the results of its 2013 Consumer Retail Survey, which indicated that the number of consumers who have used a smartphone, tablet, or other mobile device in order to purchase a product through m-commerce has increased by 19 percent over the last year.

This was said to have reflected a considerably rising acceptance of shopping over this channel.

Among the respondents who took part in the survey, 59 percent said that they had bought something using m-commerce. Three out of every four participants said that it was “very important” to be able to learn more about a product through online information. This was an increase of 8 percent from having been 67 percent in 2012. According to the report about the survey, this indicated that consumers are becoming more savvy shoppers.

The report stated that consumers are becoming more selective and sophisticated through m-commerce.

They are using the devices to inform themselves about their purchases before they make their decisions and m-commerce is beginning to play a growing role in that behavior.

According to the Stibo Systems U.K. managing director, Mark Thorpe, “Although every year is hailed as the ‘year of the mobile’, there is sufficient evidence in these results to demonstrate that mobile is now a legitimate channel for retailers, particularly with the recent rapid adoption of tablet devices.”

Thorpe went on to say that if retailers want to take full advantage of the benefits of m-commerce, then they will need to start paying attention to it not only to make sure that consumers are enjoying the experience that is being provided, but also to be able to meet their expectations. The report indicated that this would help these companies to avoid disappointing their customers, which could be a rapid road to losing potential customers and many sales over the long term.

The survey’s results not only indicated that m-commerce is being more widely accepted, but also that it is becoming increasingly important to the decision that a consumer will have as to whether or not he or she will actually make a purchase, and where.

M-commerce performance at QVC was red hot in Q4 2012

| March 5, 2013

m-commerce QVCFinal quarter data has now revealed that nearly a quarter of its online sales were over mobile devices.

QVC has become the latest believer in the success available through m-commerce as it saw an exceptionally strong performance over that channel in the last quarter of 2012.

This represented an increase of 60 percent in its sales over smartphones and tablets.

The QVC parent company, Liberty Interactive Corp., which was listed in the seventh place among the Top 500 for 2012 as identified by Internet Retailer, saw a considerable year end on December 31. According to the statistics included in its recently released report, its revenue had increased overall by 4.2 percent, bringing its total to $10.01 billion. This was an increase over its 2011 total of $9.61 billion.

While QVC saw its overall web performance rise, it was m-commerce that became the true star last year.

The American web sales for the company rose by approximately 10.9 percent, reaching $2.23 billion, when compared to the $2.01 billion from the year before. Its international web sales were not broken down by channel within this report. It did note that its total sales increased by 2.9 percent to $8.51 billion when compared to 2011’s $8.27 billion. Its international sales were up by just shy of that amount, 2.4 percent, reaching $2.93 billion from having been $2.86 billion the year before.

Forty percent of QVC’s American sales for the year were the result of online shoppers, which was a year over year rise of 37.1 percent. In the last quarter, online sales represented 42.7 percent of the total, which was a big jump from the 39.7 percent in the last quarter of 2011.

Where things were truly explosive, though, were in m-commerce in the last quarter. The sales in that channel grew by 109.3 percent in 2012 to reach $175.6 million. In 2011, that figure had been $83.9 million. Last year the mobile sales made up 22.6 percent of all of the online purchases, which was a tremendous leap over the 11.8 percent that they represented in 2011.

Clearly, 2012 was a defining year for m-commerce at QVC, which is bound to continue to push through this channel throughout 2013.