Tag: mobile commerce research

Mobile commerce set for aggressive growth, according to Forrester Research

Forrester Research, a leading market research firm, has released a new report concerning the performance of mobile commerce in 2012. Last year, more consumers made purchases from their mobile devices than ever before. This may be due to the larger number of people with mobile devices or the more comprehensive mobile commerce services that they have access to. Whatever the case may be, the report shows that mobile commerce had a strong showing throughout 2012, and this momentum is likely to carry the sector to new heights in the future.

Report shows proximity payments drive mobile commerce growth

According to Forrester Research, mobile commerce accounted for $12.84 billion in mobile payments by the end of 2012.The report divides mobile payments into three categories: Mobile proximity payments, peer-to-peer payments, and retail mobile commerce. The report shows that proximity payments, those powered by NFC technology, were one of the most popular ways for consumers to pay for products in physical stores. The report also shows that QR codes used to facilitate mobile transactions were also well received by consumers.

Mobile transactions to grow by 601% by the end of 2017

Forrester Research predicts that the mobile commerce sector will account for more than $90.5 billion in transactions by the end of 2017, a 601% increase over the transactions the sector had seen last year. NFC technology is still a major part of mobile commerce, so proximity payments are likely to continue being a popular option for consumers. Some parties are looking to move away from the technology, however, due to concerns regarding the security of a consumer’s financial information.

Some look for alternatives to NFC technology

Companies like Apple and PayPal are looking for alternative to NFC technology. Both companies are currently developing their own solutions, with PayPal’s mobile wallet service proving to be a somewhat popular alternative. The majority of the companies involved in mobile commerce, however, support NFC technology and its ability to facilitate mobile payments and keep consumers safe from exploitation.

The massive online marketplace is demonstrating a continuing upward momentum on smartphones and tablets.

Analysts are discovering that the mobile commerce performance of some of the original players in the smartphone and tablet shopping channels – such as eBay Inc. – are among the top performing locations and that they are now ready to continue the growth they have established.

It is also among these companies that the most established data is available regarding individual performance.

According to Michael Graham, an analyst from Canaccord Genuity, in a letter that went out to clients “E-commerce should continue to grow in the mid-teens as online shopping models become more useful, more efficient and more mobile, and eBay has positioned itself well against this opportunity.”

Analysts are bullish about the positioning that eBay has established in the mobile commerce environment.

Similar to Mr. Graham, Colin Gillis, an analyst from BGC Partners has identified the online marketplace as his top exposure to e-commerce pick for this year. He even issued a statement in the form of haiku that indicated his belief that mobile commerce could lead eBay’s value to one day exceed that of Amazon.

Graham also pointed out that from his company’s perspective, that “We believe eBay’s fundamental outlook is stable and could improve further over the course of 2013”. He explained that the gross merchandise volume (GMV) year over year from eBay has been consistently accelerating. This is because of a number of new and active users. He feels that a rapidly growing number of people are finding at eBay is useful, and that this is “likely driven by mobile”.

Gillis also took the opportunity to point out the value of mcommerce at eBay. In fact, he expressed that his company feels that the online auction site has “the strongest suite of offering for mobile commerce between its PayPal and its marketplace businesses.” He added that nearly one third of all purchases that are made at eBay are done from a smartphone or tablet device. Moreover, its estimates show that it will likely have processed more than $10 billion in mobile payments in the last year.