Tag: mobile applications

Mobile applications are beginning to play a major role in commerce

Mobile wallets may soon be in a position to replace their traditional counterparts. Mobile technology is becoming an increasingly integral part of society, and many people are beginning to rely on their smartphones and tablets in their daily lives. This means that mobile devices are becoming repositories of consumer information, including financial data. These devices are also storing information coming from businesses, such as digital coupons and other such offers from retailers and other organizations.

Mobile wallet applications are becoming more common among consumers of all kinds

Mobile wallets are simple applications that are designed to store financial information, making it easier for consumers to purchase products online and at physical stores from their mobile devices. These applications have become somewhat popular among consumers, but no single application has managed to win the favor of the majority of people in any given demographic. Consumers favor moving from one application to the next, making use of multiple apps that suit their needs effectively at any given moment. Some, however, have settled on the apps that they find most useful, keen to make use of these mobile wallets more than they use traditional forms of currency and credit cards.

Starbucks shows off how mobile apps can be used to generate more commerce activity

Starbucks is, perhaps, one of the best examples of the success that a company can find in engaging mobile consumers with wallet applications. Approximately 14% of all transactions made at Starbucks stores come from mobile devices, according to the company’s CEO, Howard Schultz. These transactions are coming from the company’s own mobile application, which is designed to facilitate mobile payments.

Some companies are having trouble finding a foothold in mobile commerce with their own wallet applications

Other companies working to find success in the mobile commerce space have had trouble finding traction with their mobile wallet applications. Google is one such company. In the early days of Google Wallet, the platform was crippled by security issues that drove consumers to use other applications. Other organizations have faced similar problems, as well.

Smartphones have become the standard in smaller companies and are generating $65 billion in annual savings.

It has now reached the point that nearly all small businesses are using mobile technology in the form of smartphones, with 94 percent claiming that they are using them, this year, which is still a notable increase over the high level that was recorded last year, at 85 percent.

Millions of small to midsized businesses (SMBs) across the United States are taking advantage of the tech.

These SMBs are using the smartphones to be able to save a considerable amount of time and money. A recent survey which was commissioned jointly by AT&T and by the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council) estimated that every year this mobile technology is saving SMBs $67.5 billion. This includes not only the use of the mobile devices, themselves, but also tablets and apps.

The survey looked into both the time and the money saved by the use of mobile technology.

Among all of the different types of mobile tech, smartphones alone are saving small to midsized businesses the largest amount of money ($32.3 billion) and even time (at an estimated 1.24 billion hours). Tablets came in second, with a savings of $19.6 billion per year and an estimated 754.2 million hours. Mobile apps are saving $15.6 billion per year and an estimated 599.5 million hours.

According to Karen Kerrigan, the CEO and council president of SBE, “Clearly, we are at a point where entrepreneurs now look first to communications technologies and innovations for solutions to improve productivity, cut costs and better manage and engage with customers.” She added that this is money and time that can all be redirected back into the business and improving market innovation while boosting sales.

The report on the study showed that over half of all small businesses say that they are currently using mobile technology in the form of apps. Among those who are using applications, 91 percent say that they use them for time savings, while two out of every three claim that money is being saved in this way.