Tag: mobile commerce news

Alibaba may grow more aggressive on mobile commerce

| July 16, 2013

Mobile commerce may have a role to play in company’s future

Alibaba is one of the largest e-commerce businesses in the world and currently dominates the Chinese market. As a native to China, Alibaba was able to succeed in establishing itself as the country’s premier e-commerce businesses due to the lack of competition coming from companies like Amazon and eBay, which had been almost entirely exclusive to western societies in the past. In May of this year, Jack Ma, the company’s founder, stepped down as CEO of Alibaba and was succeeded by Jonathan Lu. Lu has remained relatively reserved concerning the future of the company, but believes that it must adapt in order to retain its leadership in the e-commerce sector, and that means growing more accommodating of mobile commerce.

Competition could force more focus on mobile services

Jonathan Lu and Jack Ma share a many of the same ideologies when it comes to e-commerce and business. Both have been working together for several years and both have taken note of the rising importance that mobile commerce is playing among consumers. With more people beginning to rely heavily on mobile devices, the need for Alibaba to provide comprehensive mobile commerce services to these consumers is becoming too important to ignore. This is especially true as both Amazon and eBay look to provide such services to consumers and find some foothold in the Chinese market.

Alibaba expected to go public in near future

mobile commerce chinaAlibaba already has some mobile payment platforms in place, but the company is beginning to feel pressure to become more aggressive on this front, especially if it plans to go public in the relatively near future. Since 1999, Alibaba has been a privately owned company, but that is likely to change in the coming years under Lu’s leadership. If the company where to go public, its approach on mobile commerce could generate a great deal of traction with investors due to the popularity of mobile technology and mobile-centric services.

Public offering has not yet been announced

Lu has thus far only alluded to Alibaba going public in the future. Before the company launches a public offering, it is likely to take steps to ensure that its mobile commerce foundation is well suited to the current needs of the market. This in itself could be a time consuming endeavor due to the changing interests of consumers and the increasingly problematic security issues that exist within the mobile commerce field.

Mobile commerce showing strong growth in the UK

| July 15, 2013

UK leads Europe in mobile commerce growth

Mobile commerce is growing at a rapid pace in Europe, but one country has established a clear lead over other when it comes to driving this growth forward. According to data from Vente-privee.com, a leading European online retailer, the United Kingdom has established itself as a leader in the mobile field. The data suggests that the United Kingdom is the most mobile-centric country of the eight largest European nations. This has helped mobile commerce establish a strong foothold in the country, from which it can spread throughout the rest of the region.

Data shows 37% of sales come from UK mobile devices

The data from Vente-privee.com shows that approximately 32% of its sales come from mobile devices. The majority of these sales (53%) come from tablets, with approximately 47% coming from smartphones. Tablets have been growing more popular as mobile shopping platforms due to their large screens, which make it easier for consumers to navigate online stores. The data also shows that some 37% of online sales come from the United Kingdom, with France accounting for 29%.

Mobile Commerce UKUK consumers prove to be very mobile-centric

UK consumers seem to be more reliant on mobile devices than those in other countries. Many of these consumers have grown up with a strong involvement in some type of technology and have thus developed a strong affinity for mobile devices and other such technologies. This has enabled the UK to embrace mobile commerce more readily than other countries and retailers in the UK have been significantly more aggressive than others in their adoption of mobile payments.

Lack of mobile websites could slow growth over the long term

While mobile commerce is growing in the United Kingdom, this growth has been hampered by the relative lack of mobile-optimized websites. These sites were initially designed to be used for PCs rather than mobile devices. As such, mobile consumers often have trouble navigating these sites and making use of what mobile commerce services they may provide.