Tag: mobile shopping

Mobile commerce is showing signs of life

Mobile commerce in the Middle East is beginning to pick up momentum. The availability of smartphones and tablets is on the rise, giving consumers new ways to shop and purchase products over the Internet. E-commerce has held a relatively strong foothold throughout the region, but mobile commerce is beginning to show signs of aggressive growth, powered by the interests of young, tech-savvy consumers. Much of this growth is expected to be seen in Saudi Arabia, where mobile technology penetration is quite high.

PayPal report projects bright future for mobile commerce

PayPal has released a new report concerning mobile commerce in the Middle East. The report shows that mobile transactions currently represent 10% of all online purchases in the region. Mobile commerce is expected to represent 20% of all online sales in the Middle East by 2015. The report notes that shopping from a traditional PC remains dominant in the e-commerce sector, but this will not be the case in the near future as more consumers begin favoring their mobile devices for their shopping.

Mobile payments in Saudi Arabia are likely to grow

In Saudi Arabia, e-commerce is expected to reach $2.7 billion by the end of 2015. Mobile commerce in the country will account for approximately $700 million by that time. The report suggests that tablets will lead the rise of mobile commerce in Saudi Arabia. Many consumers appear to enjoy their shopping experience on tablet devices due to the larger screens and better control options of these devices. Tablets can make mobile commerce more attractive by providing consumers with a memorable and enjoyable shopping experience.

Experience may dictate growth of mobile commerce

Mobile commerce is also expected to make strong progress in Qatar as well, representing $400 million by the end of 2015. Smartphones are likely to become more popular than tablets in the mobile commerce space simply because they are more abundant. Ultimately, the growth of mobile commerce will be determined by consumer experience rather than what device is more readily available to them in the Middle East.

Most consumers haven’t yet warmed to the idea of purchasing over their smartphones and tablets.

Despite the fact that this will likely be the biggest year (by far) for mobile commerce during the holiday season, the latest research is still showing that most consumers are less than enchanted with actually making a purchase through the use of their devices.

The research results were recently revealed by ICM, and were published in Retail Week.

The ICM research showed that 60 percent of all shoppers don’t plan to use mobile commerce at all throughout the length of the holiday shopping season. That said, one third of the respondents to the survey do plan to use their devices in at least some way as a part of the overall shopping process.

At the same time, the survey also showed that the future is looking very bright for mobile commerce.

We may not be there yet, but things are looking very promising in the not too distant future, due to younger consumers. It is that age group that appears to be the most open to purchasing through mobile commerce. In fact, 14 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 34 are expected to conduct a considerable amount of their Christmas shopping using smartphones and tablets.

A number of retailers have already been discussing their predictions regarding mobile commerce over the winter holiday shopping season. According to Andy Street, the managing director of John Lewis, there is already a 40 percent share of site traffic that comes from smartphones and tablets, so they are gearing up for a Christmas season that is heavily mobile. He stated that “Purchasing from desktop is moving to mobile. It is at 40% and growing very rapidly and we expect to see that moving forward again,” and added that “We are preparing for what we anticipate will be the UK’s first ‘mobile Christmas’.”

Home Retail, the parent company of Argos, has also applauded mobile commerce. Last week, it shared its own figures, saying that there has been an increase of 133 percent in sales over smartphones and tablets, and that 17 percent of its total sales in the second quarter were from these devices.