Tag: m-commerce

Mobile and social channels may help the e-commerce sector grow more this year

Mobile and social channels may be the key drivers of e-commerce growth this year, according to Monetate. The firm notes that mobile commerce, in particular, experienced a period of healthy growth and activity during the 2014 holiday season. During this time, mobile purchases increased by 45% over what they had been during the time period of 2013. Approximately 16% of all e-commerce traffic came from mobile devices as well, making mobile a valuable channel for the larger digital commerce space.

Improved mobile experience may be needed in order to ensure that consumers continue to shop on their smartphones and tablets

Monetate notes that mobile experiences are improving, which is making it more likely for consumers to participate in mobile payments in some way. A good experience encourages consumers to continue using their mobile devices to shop for and purchase products online and at physical stores. Poor experiences have the opposite effect, especially if they become inconvenient and considered a burden to consumers that have come to favor mobility.

Engaging consumers in innovative ways can bring them deeper into the world of mobile commerce

Engaging mobile consumers can be extremely difficult. Monetate notes that businesses that want to engage in mobile consumers must do so in a specialized manner. According to the firm, bounce rates on mobile devices are 50% higher than on desktop computers, and consumers are 30% less likely to add products to their online shopping carts when shopping. Finding ways to create a frictionless, convenient, and enjoyable mobile experience can ensure that businesses have the ability to engage mobile consumers effectively.

Loyalty programs could be the key to further success in the mobile commerce space

Loyalty programs may be one of the first steps in driving deeper personalization of the mobile shopping experience. These programs offer rewards to shoppers that favor particular retailers. Monetate notes that these programs are the most profitable type of initiative that retailers can utilize. They also exist as a way for consumers to customize their experiences with the retailers that they are supporting.

The weakness in this area has caused customer engagement to suffer, said the research firm.

Gartner has recently released a report that has been entitled “Weak Mobile Customer Service Is Harming Customer Engagement” and which has provided some considerable insight into the issues that are facing the m-commerce industry.

The researchers at Gartner have pointed out that consumer expectations aren’t met by the support they are receiving.

The report pointed out that because mobile customer service is not up to snuff, it is not having a very positive result on the customer engagement that they are experiencing. As high quality customer engagement is one of the most important principles in successful m-commerce, this discovery by Gartner may be the motivator that IT leaders require in order to innovate in the area of engaging consumers on multiple channels and to have the metrics that are provided select the projects that will be pursued.

The report showed that Gartner feels that there is a considerable weakness in mobile customer service, but that it is fixable.

It was also evident that the report saw the opportunity to turn this perceived weakness around and to convert it into what could one day be a strength in mobile commerce. According to the vice president and an analyst at Gartner, Michael Maoz, “Marketing may fill the sales funnel, and the sales department can close a deal, yet it is the overall impression of the enterprise generated by the quality of customer service that differentiates one enterprise from another.”

Maoz also pointed out that attempting to express the concept of overall and departmental customer engagement so that it can be broken down and understood as components of operations throughout an enterprise is beginning a transformation of the very definition of what customer service actually is. In fact, while that was once seen as “an isolated function”, it is now starting to become “an enterprise objective”, which must be “delivered across all points where the customer ‘touches’ the business.”

Gartner also feels that mobile customer service is going to provide the very opposite effect that had previously been predicted by others in the industry. While some may believe that the need for humans in the customer service experience could be replaced by mobile technologies, Gartner feels that within a span of two years, one in every three customer service interactions will still need “human intermediary” support.