Tag: mobile commerce

Using smartphones for purchasing a range of different kinds of items has become very popular in Brazil.

A recent study conducted on the mobile commerce market in Brazil has shown that shopping over smartphones is becoming increasingly popular within the country, particularly among young consumers who are shopping for the first time.

The research indicated that throughout 2015, there was an increase of 47 percent in m-commerce shoppers.

This is a dramatic rise in the number of people who are turning to mobile commerce in order to buy the products and services they want. The firm behind the study, E-bit, determined that shopping over smartphones made up a considerable 14.3 percent of the country’s online trading in 2015. When compared to the same figure from the year before, when it was 9.7 percent, that represents a very meaningful rise in this trend.

The research also indicates that 22 percent of online shoppers in Brazil have used mobile commerce.

That said, the same research has also underscored the fact that 88 percent of online shoppers still prefer to buy products and services over their desktop and laptop computers. While they might use their mobile devices for researching products and doing price comparisons, the final purchase still tends to be made over traditional computers the majority of the time. This indicates that consumers prefer to use multiple devices to complete the entire shopping journey from the point that they decide they want something and start to look into it, to the point that they actually pay for the items in their digital shopping carts.

In 2015, e-commerce in the Brazilian market generated $10.9 billion in sales, which was an increase over 2014 by 15.3 percent. This shows that there has been a significant trend leaning toward purchasing products and services on digital devices such as smartphones, tablets and computers.

That said, the news when it comes to online shopping and mobile commerce isn’t all positive. Recent research also published by E-bit but that was produced by a separate study has shown that they predict the lowest growth rates in online shopping in 15 years as a result of the current economic situation being experienced in the country. Brazil is in a recession at the moment and consumers have been cutting back on their spending as a result of this condition.

Mobile commerce could eventually replace conventional forms of commerce

Mobile payments may actually do away with cash in the relatively near future. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has released a new report that highlights security issues in the mobile commerce space. The report does show that security issues are quite serious, but the mobile commerce space may overcome these issues to outpace traditional forms of commerce and become favored among consumers. IEEE surveyed 2,000 technology enthusiasts for the report.

Consumers remain concerned about security risks that exist in the mobile space

According to the report, 70% of those that the company surveyed believe that mobile payments will be secure enough to replace cash by 2030. Many consumers are already interested in new payment services, but they rarely use these services due to concerns regarding their security. Consumers believe that their personal information could be at risk of exploitation if they use their mobile devices to make purchases. These are not unfounded worries, as mobile payments services have been targeted by malicious groups in the past.

Consumers are worried about unauthorized purchases and malicious QR codes

Of those surveyed, 46% said they were worried that their payment information would be stolen. Another 33% claimed that they were worried that unauthorized payments would be made through mobile services. Approximately 13% were worried that they would accidentally make a payment through an NFC sticker or QR code. Consumers are also concerned that their mobile devices may be infected by scanning a malicious QR code. These concerns have come together to discourage consumers from participating in mobile commerce.

Companies are beginning to aggressively address security issues in order to make mobile commerce safer

While consumers are worried about their financial information, companies in the mobile commerce space are beginning to address these concerns. Several have begun using biometric technology to protect their mobile payments services. Tokenization is also becoming popular in the mobile commerce space. This involves replacing consumer information with digital tokens, which can be used to authenticate mobile transactions.