Tag: mobile shopping

Survey finds that consumers are still not convinced that mobile commerce is the best solution when shopping

The holidays are here and consumers are expected to begin using their mobile devices to get their shopping done. This may not be the case for everyone, however, according to a new survey from Bankrate.com. The survey found that while consumers are interested in the concept of mobile commerce, they are not necessarily interested in using their smartphones and tablets to complete a purchase. Some have reported that they are not convinced that mobile payments apps are able to keep their information secure enough to feel comfortable with making a purchase.

14% of US consumers expected to use mobile payments apps

The survey from Bankrate.com has found that only 14% of consumers in the United States said that they will be using mobile wallets to make payments during the holiday season. Of those avoiding mobile payments, 36% reported that they are not comfortable with the level of security that can be found in the mobile commerce space. Security has been a problem for this market for some time, with many consumers reporting concerns regarding the safety of their financial information. Another 31% said that other payment methods were simply more convenient than what mobile commerce has to offer.

Consumers likely to continue using their mobile devices to conduct research on products

Consumers do remain interested in mobile commerce despite their security concerns, of course. Many are likely to use their mobile devices to research products before they make a purchase. This allows shoppers to find better deals or take advantage of special offers coming from certain retailers. When it comes to actually making a purchase, however, the survey from Bankrate.com found that the majority of shoppers prefer to pay with cash, with approximately 30% of consumers preferring to pay with their debit cards.

Retailers could see success by engaging mobile consumers with secure and convenient services

Over the past few years, the mobile commerce market has experience strong growth on the back of the holiday shopping season. This year, retailers are expected to see similar results, especially if they have begun growing more mobile-centric over the past several months. They will, of course, have to ensure that consumer information is kept secure if they want to find any success in the mobile commerce field.

This trend is heading around the world as Diwali shopping in India broke mobile records.

While the holiday shopping season is only just getting started in the United States, India has already had a major wave of its own m-commerce season as Diwali brought a tremendous number of shoppers to their device screens to pick up that perfect gift.

According to UCWeb, the holiday shopping traffic across India broke the 75.5 percent mark this year.

UCWeb is the company behind the top mobile browser used in India, as it holds onto a market share that is greater than 54 percent in that country. This makes that company uniquely able to understand the increases that are being seen in m-commerce activities throughout the year and at times of holiday shopping such as during Diwali.

According to the company’s managing director in India, Kenny Ye, “The numbers of users who visit Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal via UC Browser in the month leading up to Diwali 2015 increased over 75 percent compared with last year.”

People in India are steadily increasing their use of m-commerce, particularly during festive seasons.

Ye went on to explain that consumers in India are “embracing shopping on the go” to a growing degree. They are finding that there is a great deal of opportunity available to take advantage of the time they have while they commute or on lunch breaks, for example, in order to pick up the gifts they need for festive celebrations. It helps them to save time and to be able to find some great ways to save money on what they want to buy.

That said, this use of mobile commerce for Diwali in India has been met with some resistance in that many people are saying that it is pushing people to think of this important time on the calendar in an exclusively commercial sense, when it is supposed to mean a great deal more.

This closely mirrors the sentiment of many people who will be using m-commerce to help them to get ahead in their Christmas shopping during the holiday season in the United States. It will be interesting to see what other trends follow the same paths between the two countries and their top gift giving holidays.