Tag: mobile payments

Retail industry beginning to see an impact from mobile payments

The retail industry has come to a crossroad wherein it must discover the best way to engage consumers from around the world. Technology has played a major role in bringing the industry to this crossroad, especially as the Internet came to determine how successful many retailers would become in the future. The advent of mobile technology sparked evolution within the retail industry, and now the rise of mobile commerce is having the same effect. The future of the retail industry is beginning to look almost entirely dependent on mobile technology and retailers that shirk the mobile space may be setting themselves up to fail in the near future.

Retailers must focus more on mobile engagement

Mobile payments are quickly becoming more common around the world. Branding Brands CEO Christopher Mason notes that the retail industry is becoming more acclimated to the mobile space, largely due to the demands coming from consumers. Despite some interest from retailers, however, Mason suggests that most in the industry lack appropriate enthusiasm when it comes to mobile payments. Mason notes that of the 500 retailers in the world, only 40% have mobile consumer interfaces, which means many of these retailers are not providing an enjoyable experience to mobile consumer, who may soon determine the fate of these retail companies with the power held in their mobile wallets.

Wal-Mart takes note of the popularity of mobile devices

Wendy Bergh, senior director of mobile and digital strategy for Wal-Mart, notes that much of her focus in recent years has been on in-store experiences and how they can be improved through the use of mobile applications. Bergh suggests that applications are an ideal way to get consumers into physical stores, by offering these consumers discounts and services that are exclusive to physical stores and the applications used therein. Wal-Mart is currently developing a scanning application that will allow consumers to find products and purchase these products directly from their mobile device.

Mobile payments may soon dominate retail industry

Mobile payments may soon come to dictate the future of the retail industry. Consumers have shown some reluctance in participating in mobile commerce, largely due to security concerns. Many of the concerns that consumers have, however, are being addressed through the development of new mobile payments services that are more secure than their predecessors. As mobile commerce becomes more secure, it is becoming increasingly likely that consumers will favor mobile payments over traditional forms of commerce.

The latest Heavy Reading report has revealed its latest predictions for the market for 2015.

The popularity of mobile payments is already growing, despite a rather slow and rocky start, and according to Heavy Reading Mobile Networks Insider, this has set the market on the path to breaking the $1 trillion mark in transactions by the close of 2015.

The industry is also at the point that it is growing quickly and is creating heavy competition even before becoming mainstream.

The mobile payments industry is now offering a vast array of different solutions for generating revenue. This latest Heavy Reading report has forecasted that within the next three years, the market will have skyrocketed to the point that its transactions will have been worth more than $1 trillion, worldwide.

The report has also predicted that mobile payments will be an important factor in the success of m-commerce.

It looked into mobile payments as a whole and came up with a number of predictions in terms of market drivers in addition to the challenges that this industry could face. It also performed a comparative analysis of the various types of solutions that have become available within this ecosystem and attempted to provide details regarding the types of trends that are likely to happen if the industry continues in the same direction over the upcoming year and a half to two years.

According to Heavy Reading report author, research analyst Denise Culver “Mobile payments have gone from being a cool-to-talk-about concept to a disruptive technology in a relatively short time frame.” She went on to say that “MNOs and payment vendors should be looking at different ways to drive demand for mobile payments, which have the potential to create significant revenue throughout the entire mobile ecosystem.”

Some of the report’s data has indicated that consumers that are already comfortable with making payments online, such as for purchasing products and services and for paying their bills, are among those who are already using their smartphones and tablets for these same tasks. Culver has predicted that as the penetration of these devices continues, it will be “only natural” that these same individuals will increase their desire and likelihood to apply those devices for transaction purposes.