Tag: mobile shopping

Report highlights growth of UK mobile commerce

A new report from Capgemini, a business consultancy firm, and IMRG, an online retail association based in the United Kingdom, show that mobile sales in the UK grew by 133% year on year in August. The report shows that mobile sales reached more than $1.8 billion in this time, representing major growth in the field of mobile commerce. In the United Kingdom, more consumers are opting to shop and make purchases using their smartphones and tablets as more comprehensive mobile commerce services become available.

Online sales grow 18% in August

In general, online sales in the United Kingdom grew by 18% in August of this year, reaching over $7 billion. Consumers appear to prefer traditional forms of online shopping, such as buying products from home using their computers, but a growing number of people are showing interest in mobile commerce. Smartphone and tablet adoption is on the rise, which is one of the factors contributing to the growth of mobile commerce. Another factor has to do with the increased focus that retailers are putting on mobile consumers.

Retailers seek to engage mobile consumers

Many UK retailers have been making major revisions to their websites to be more accommodating to mobile users. These retailers are attempting to optimize the mobile shopping experience, encouraging consumers to make purchases using their mobile device. A good experience with mobile commerce is likely to ensure consumers continue making mobile purchases. In the past, poor mobile commerce experiences have kept consumers away from mobile shopping on certain platforms.

Security fears seem to be mitigated

Consumers in the UK appear to be growing more confident in the security associated with mobile commerce as well. Security has long been one of the most challenging issues of the mobile commerce sector. Consumers often express concerns regarding the safety of their financial information, but retailers and mobile commerce firms appear to be providing higher levels of security to allay any sense of fear that consumers may have.

The latest data regarding sales transactions over smartphones and tablets have shown massive growth.

The findings of an analysis conducted by Capgemini and IMRG have shown that the sales transacted over mobile commerce have reached a point that they are far hotter than they have ever been.

In fact, the report shows that the current figures are leading 2013 to be a year that is double last year.

The trend revealed by the recent mobile commerce report indicated that it is becoming ever more urgent for retailers to make sure that their websites have been optimized for the screens and navigation available on smartphones and tablets. Soon, this will also include high tech smartwatches with even smaller screens.

The data from the report showed that 23.2 percent of online shopping in the second quarter from mobile commerce.

This is a notable increase when compared to the mobile commerce figure from the same quarter in 2012, which was 11.6 percent. This indicates that it could be highly beneficial for retailers and other companies to recreate a version of their website that is meant specifically for smartphones and tablets. This way, no matter what device the consumer happens to prefer, all of the content will be easily available, improving the experience of the visitor.

That said, there are also some retailers who are approaching mobile commerce with a tactic preferring “responsive” websites. Those are sites that are designed to display themselves properly on whatever screen is used. Though effective, it is an increasingly expensive effort, which can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $25,000 with additional upfront costs based on the specific design itself and the functionality that is desired.

The compatibility of a website with mobile commerce users is very important, as there are only under 3 seconds available in which to make a good impression with a visitor before he or she will become impatient and simply move on to a competitor’s website. Despite the fact that mobile internet connections are tremendously slower than those for most desktops, consumers still expect the same performance speeds from the websites that they visit on their smartphones.