Tag: mcommerce report

Mobile commerce becoming a major aspect of retail

Accenture, a leading market research firm, has released a new study concerning the preferences consumers have in the realm of online shopping. The Seamless Retail Study highlights these preferences, showing that many consumers favor their mobile devices to shop for and purchase products online. Mobile commerce is growing increasingly common, especially in the retail industry, due to the convenience it offers to consumers. Many consider using their smartphones and tablets to shop online is simple more efficient than other forms of shopping.

Survey shows consumers are likely to use mobile devices to shop

The study includes a survey, which notes that 88% of consumers claimed to have participated in “webrooming,” a practice similar to showrooming wherein consumers browse for products on the Internet before purchasing products in a physical store. The survey also shows that approximately 43% of consumers have plans to shop online more frequently in the future, with 23% of these consumers noting that they plan to use their mobile devices to shop.

Mobile commerce offers more convenience to shoppers

The study suggests that consumers are becoming increasingly interested in a seamless shopping experience, wherein they can find and purchase the products they are interested online and pick up those products as soon as possible. Mobile commerce is somewhat accommodating of this trend, as it enables consumers to make a purchase from their mobile device and, in some cases, retrieve their purchased products from a physical store. Amazon has recently begun offering such a service, which has been well received by consumers interested in mobile commerce.

Retailers may have to work harder to engage a changing consumer base

The study claims that retailers may need to combine their store, online, and mobile shopping channels in order to appeal to a changing consumer base. More people are getting their hands of high-end smartphones and tablets, making them more mobile-centric. As such, retailers that do not appeal to consumers on a mobile level could stand to lose significant ground with these people as mobile commerce becomes more prolific.

A recent study has shown that affluent consumers use their smartphones to make purchasing decisions.

The results of the research performed by Unity Marketing have now been released and are indicating that merchants targeting high-end customers will want to make a priority of their mcommerce offerings, as over 50 percent of these affluent shoppers use their smartphones to make purchasing decisions.

This represents a doubling over 2011, when only 25 percent of this market was using mobile for this reason.

The report, which was entitled Affluents Online, pointed out that businesses with a target market of wealthy consumers had best create mcommerce websites that are engaging, sticky, and robust, in addition to a strong social media strategy and mobile platform. This effort should, says the report, be considered a necessity, and should no longer be thought to be a convenient option.

High-end shoppers have reached a full integration of mcommerce and online activities into their daily lives.

The report showed that the luxurious lifestyle to which these consumers have become accustomed is steadily increasing the use of mcommerce for various parts of the shopping process. This includes everything from informing themselves regarding products, stores, and brands, and actually making the purchases themselves.

The Affluents Online report was based on a study of nearly one thousand wealthy shoppers. The average income of the respondents was $248,900. The researchers discovered that within this group, 98 percent of the respondents had used the internet for shopping purposes and had made at least one purchase within the 3 month term of the study. On average, the online spending for high-end purchases was $3,702. The average time spent shopping was 5 hours every week.

According to the study’s lead researcher and the president of Unity Marketing, Pam Danziger, affluent consumers had not changed their online habits of paying bills, making dining reservations, making travel bookings, researching purchases, and actually buying goods and services over the twelve months previous to the study. The primary – and quite notable – difference was the shift toward mcommerce, as those consumers used their smartphones and tablets instead of their laptops and desktops.