Tag: mobile commerce news

Facebook takes a step toward mobile commerce

| July 21, 2014

Facebook introduces new feature that may promote social commerce among its users

Facebook has been working to successfully monetize itself in recent years, and a focus solely on marketing is not doing the trick. While Facebook has become a very prominent and attractive platforms for advertisers, mobile commerce could soon become a very powerful revenue stream. In order to engage its massive mobile audience, Facebook has begun testing a new “Buy” service in order to promote social commerce.

Social commerce continues to grow in prominence as mobile consumers become a dominant demographic

Social commerce has become a very popular aspect of mobile shopping. Social media platforms, like Facebook, are beginning to make shopping online a primarily social experience. Shoppers can easily share the products that they find online with their contacts on various media platforms. This sharing increases product exposure, and social commerce has begun a viable way to passively market products by having consumers share their finds in an easy manner.

Mobile commerce could represent a significant revenue stream for Facebook

Mobile Commerce - FacebookFacebook is expected to account for 7.8% of digital ad spending this year. While Facebook is a prominent advertising platform, it believes that mobile commerce will have a more profound impact on its revenue stream in the coming years. The Buy service that the company is testing is the first step in establishing a more prominent presence in the mobile commerce space. As one of the world’s largest social media platforms, Facebook may be able to make social commerce a more mainstream concept.

Buy service will be available to a limited number of users until it proves it can be successful

The Buy service will allow Facebook users to quickly purchase products that they find through the social media platform. A Buy button will appear at the bottom of sponsored advertisements, and this button can be clicked to initiate a purchase. The new service may be particularly popular among mobile users because of its convenient design. The button will only show up for a limited number of Facebook users, but if it is successful, the social media company plans to expand its availability in the coming months.

E-mail is what is driving mobile commerce activity

| July 14, 2014

New report shows that mobile shopping activity continues to rise throughout the US

Custora, an electronic marketing service provider, has released a new report concerning the factors that are driving mobile commerce activity in the U.S. Over the past four years, mobile payments have seen a dramatic rise, finding their way into various industries and with more people showing interest in mobile transactions. Mobile commerce has seen the majority of its growth occur in the retail industry, where retail sales from smartphones and tablets have reached $42 billion as of t he end of 2013.

E-mail is driving more activity than social media

There are many factors driving the growth of the mobile space, but e-mail is one of the most influential of these factors. One common consensus among businesses is that the best way to engage mobile consumers is through social media. While this is true to some extent, e-mail is still the best way to drive commerce activity among these consumers. According to Custora, e-mail drive 26.7% of sales on smartphones and 23.1% on tablets. By comparison, social media only drove 0.6% of sales on smartphones and 0.2% on tablets. E-mail remains one of the most powerful marketing tools available to businesses today, despite the fact that e-mail services do not have the same flare as social media platforms.

Consumers are beginning to favor tablets over smartphones

Mobile Commerce - Email successful marketingCustora’s data shows that consumers are becoming more willing to shop from their smartphones and tablets as well. Between January and March of this year, 12% of online shoppers made purchases from more than one mobile device. Shoppers are beginning to favor tablets over smartphones as well, due to the better shopping experience that these devices offer.

Smartphones may be the primary mobile commerce tool among online shoppers for some time

Currently, the iPad is the most popular tablet device for online shoppers, accounting for 79.9% of tablet commerce. Amazon’s Kindle Fire is gaining momentum, however, as more consumers begin to use their tablets to shop online. Overall, smartphones are likely to remain the primary mobile commerce tool among consumers.