Tag: m-commerce

While the service can be used at a physical store checkout counter, early adopters are using it as they shop over smartphones.

Mobile payments have been an area of considerable controversy, as some feel that this technology will rapidly take over plastic debit and credit cards, while others doubt that it will go anywhere because people are content with what they have, but where most seem to agree is that no matter the direction of the future, Apple Pay will be at the head of it – at least throughout the early years.

Now that the iPhone’s mobile wallet is available, the trends and potential for this type of service are becoming clearer.

So far, Apple Pay has shown to be quite popular among early adopters. The launch was fairly recent, as it occurred last October, and the number of people who have the necessary equipment to actually use the service is limited – as only the latest versions of the iPhone (6 and 6 Plus) are compatible – but so far, the owners of those devices who have enabled the service are using it. That said, they’re not necessarily making their purchases with their mobile wallets while in physical shopping locations. Instead, they are making m-commerce purchases with their iPhones.

This has caused many retailers to ensure that they have an Apple Pay option on their only checkouts.

Among those that have been benefitting from Apple’s mobile wallet is SeatGeek, a search app for sports and concert tickets. Its checkout screen has been updated to accept payments via iPhone and it has now seen an increase in its conversion rates by 30 percent. Those that have been specifically through Apple’s wallet have represented an 80 percent increase.

According to Jack Groetzinger, the cofounder of SeatGeek, Apple’s mobile wallet “is convenient in a physical store, but you’re never going to Wal-Mart because of Apple Pay. It’s a triviality.” That said, he pointed out that “But you are going to buy tickets on SeatGeek with Apple Pay in a case where you wouldn’t have otherwise. That’s huge.”

Indiegogo, the crowdfunding site, has seen a similar type of response, according to its chief executive officer, Slava Rubin. That site’s campaigns have seen conversion rates increase by 2.5 times when using the Apple wallet for the transaction. Rubin saw that type of mobile payments as an important opportunity for the site and has included it on the site since it was first launched.

Brick and mortar stores had been feeling threatened by smartphone shoppers, but that may not be the case.

As mobile commerce has been picking up at a substantial rate, retailers in brick and mortar locations have been concerned that consumers may begin to be lured online by the ability to shop for a better deal, no matter where they are, instead of heading out to real world stores.

A recent study has shown that shoppers are returning to stores on an increasing basis, to shop in person.

This trend has shown itself in the research of several companies that have been looking into mobile commerce, including Telefonica SA, Tumblr, and Yahoo Inc. This was announced at the Digital Life Design conference that was recently held in Munich, Germany. Though the last few years have shown a greater growth in online shopping than at in-store locations, the mall is beginning to take hold of some of its former share, according to the researcher, Euromonitor’s data.

Many in the industry feel that as popular as mobile commerce may be, real life interaction has been missed.

According to the Tumblr head of creative strategy, David Hayes, “People are craving real-life interaction for shopping.” Hayes stated that he has worked with Levi Strauss & Co., and Gap Inc. in order to encourage consumers to attend events such as promotional parties and music performances being held in stores. He added that “There’s a trend going from URL to ‘IRL’ – ‘in real life’.”

While online and mobile commerce have been turning companies such as Alibaba and Amazon into massive giants that would seem to be virtually unstoppable, some brick and mortar retailers are discovering that the hands-on experience and in-person interaction that they have to offer customers has been giving them an advantage that has been enough to bring people back. The revenue generated through in-store experience is, according to Euromonitor data, going to grow to 4.9 percent by 2019. Comparatively, that figure had been 1.6 percent in 2013, while the growth of online sales is supposed to slow down to 12 percent by 2019 from having been 21 percent in 2013.