Tag: mobile shopping

Target is developing its own mobile platform that will allow consumers to shop with their smartphones

Major retailer Target may be working on its own mobile payments service, which will allow it to better connect with consumers using smartphones and other devices. Target is the fourth-largest retailer in the United States, but it has yet to establish any significant presence in the mobile commerce space. The company had intended to use a platform developed by the Merchant Customer Exchange, but the organization has been slow in developing its mobile payments service for retailers.

New platform will serve as a type of digital wallet, storing information for consumers

While Target may be developing its own mobile payments platform, the company has not announced plans concerning the launch of the platform. It would allow consumers to pay for products with their mobile devices, however, and it will also serve as a type of digital wallet. The platform will store information provided by Target, such as discounts, and consumers can use the product to store their financial information, making the purchasing process more convenient.

Target will compete with other companies involved in the mobile payments space

Target entering into the mobile payments field could bring more competition into the market. Companies like Apple, Google, and Samsung have already established footholds in this market, but they are finding it difficult to effectively connect with mobile consumers. Retailers are finding its particularly challenging to convert mobile shoppers into paying customers. By developing their own mobile payments platforms, however, they may be able to provide a more enjoyable experience for consumers that may help solve this problem.

Walmart is also developing its own mobile payments platform

Target joins Walmart in the development of a mobile payments platform. Walmart believes that its platform will allow it to better connect with mobile consumers, whom are beginning to rely more heavily on their mobile devices to get their shopping done. More retailers are expected to follow suit, developing their own mobile payments platforms while also making use of those developed by other companies. Whether or not these platforms will become popular among consumers has yet to be seen, however.

A recent forecast showed that it would reach $284 billion and 45 percent of e-shopping spending by 2020.

At the moment, consumers are using mobile commerce more than ever before to help to find products, read reviews and locate those items at brick and mortar retail locations.

That said, the current trend doesn’t show that the majority of consumers are making purchases over smartphones.

According to predictions that have been made about mobile commerce use throughout 2016, it doesn’t look as though there will be a massive change in smartphone shopping apps toward any that will be greatly superior to the current offerings. Still, m-commerce is expected to continue to represent a growing proportion of overall online spending over time. According to a new report, that will start to become quite meaningful by the year 2020.

In 2014, mobile commerce made up only 12 percent of all online sales in the United States.

The total online spending last year had been $303 billion in the U.S. That said, according to the BI Intelligence Mobile Checkout Report, by 2020, that figure will be considerably greater. Consumers will be spending an estimated $632 billion online and 45 percent of that will have been through mobile channels.

While American adults do spent a notably larger amount of their screen time using mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, when it comes to their actual spending, desktops and laptops are still the gadgets of choice. Moreover, digital commerce is growing at a rate that is larger than that of in-store retail. Retail sales grew by 2 percent year over year, but digital commerce rose by 15 percent, said data from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

While smartphone shopping has been growing in its importance, it is e-commerce as a whole that has had the largest impact on total retail sales. That said, the BI Intelligence report showed that between now and 2020, there will be a notable shift as mobile commerce starts to play a much more meaningful role in e-commerce sales. It is estimated that 2015’s total for mobile shopping is $55 billion (16 percent of total online shopping), by 2020 the same figure will be 45 percent of the total, at $248 billion.