Tag: m-commerce

Burst Media has released the results of its annual holiday survey, indicating that consumers are prepped with their smartphones.

The latest annual holiday survey from Burst Media has revealed that consumers are already getting ready to start their shopping during the heaviest season of the year, and that while they plan to head to brick and mortar shopping malls and online shops, alike, they will be using mobile commerce in a number of different ways to help them throughout their purchasing journeys.

This year’s calendar has shaken up the pattern of events when compared to previous recent years.

For instance, this year, Hanukkah will be starting ahead of Thanksgiving, and for the first time since 2008, Cyber Monday will be occurring in December. This could be a defining pattern, particularly when it comes to mobile commerce, as it was barely in existence the last time this happened, so this year will present the first real data regarding what retailers can expect when online shopping kicks off when December has already started, and after Hanukkah is already in full swing.

The survey provided a considerable amount of online and mobile commerce insight for this year’s season.

Among the key findings of the holiday shopping and mobile commerce survey from Burst Media are the following:

• Marketers have time on their sides. Among the respondents of the survey, a large portion (40 percent) begin their holiday shopping following their Thanksgiving celebrations. Only 14.3 percent have already begun, and 11.8 percent started just after Halloween.
• Smartphones and tablets are playing an increasing role in the overall shopping process. Among the respondents, 45.7 percent use smartphones, and 41.3 percent use tablets for online browsing and shopping for holiday gifts and products. This is far greater than last year’s statistics.
• Mobile commerce apps will play an important part in the shopping this season, as 54.6 percent of women and 41.9 percent of men use shopping apps at least somewhat frequently – far more than in 2012.
• Smartphones are helping with shopping in brick and mortar shops, as 40.3 percent of the respondents use their devices while inside the stores to assist in their decision making.
• Parents are using mobile commerce to comparison shop for better prices while inside brick and mortar retail locations. This was the case among 64.5 percent of moms and 63.2 percent of dads.

Amazon and eBay may clash in the mobile commerce field

Competition in the mobile commerce field is nothing new. Technology firms from around the world are competing with one another in order to develop the next great mobile commerce platform while retailers are working to engage mobile consumers through their own platforms. The popularity surrounding mobile commerce has lead to the emergence of a vast multitude of startup companies that seek to benefit from the success that can be found in the mobile field.

Both companies have high hopes for mobile commerce

Mobile commerce competition may reach a new high as two of the sector’s largest players begin to clash. Both Amazon and eBay boast of a commanding presence in the mobile commerce field. Amazon’s retail power and eBay PayPal division have made the two companies quite formidable, but the two had little occasion to clash in the past. Now that mobile commerce has become a global phenomenon and has shown no signs of slowing down, however, Amazon and eBay are expected to vie for supremacy within the field.

New service from Amazon aims to make mobile payments more convenient

Amazon recently launched its Login and Pay service, which is meant to make mobile payments more convenient for online shoppers. This service is available to retailers and used to make retailers more accommodating of the needs of mobile consumers. The service itself is quite similar to that offered by PayPal and both Amazon and PayPal feature robust anti-fraud capabilities designed to make the mobile commerce sector somewhat more secure. Amazon may be able to compete with PayPal in the mobile space with its new service, especially as eBay focuses more on expansion rather than the development of new services.

Online sales in the US expected to reach $328 by end of 2016

In the U.S., online sales are expected to reach $327 billion by 2016. PayPal is currently the leading online payment processor, accounting for $7.7 million in transactions on a daily basis. There may be plenty of room for Amazon and eBay to grow into the mobile commerce field side by side, but the two companies share a large consumer base. Both appeal to the same demographic as one another, making it difficult for either company to exist in without competing with one another in some way.