Tag: mobile shopping

This year’s predictions about the way consumers will be shopping over smartphones are out.

Even though smartphone payments have yet to be used by mainstream consumers, this year, mobile commerce is definitely going to be a central part of the holiday shopping experience, if the results of a Deloitte study are accurate.

Consumers will be using m-commerce for virtually every part of their holiday shopping experiences.

Although the main ideas associated with mobile commerce are typically the actual purchase of products and services, it involves a great deal more than that, and it is in those broader reaches of the concept that consumers are most interested. Regardless of where the final sale actually takes place, the smartphone is often a contributor to the rest of the journey. For instance, Deloitte’s survey showed that a considerable 78 percent of consumers plan to use their smartphones at some point during the shopping process, this holiday season. Moreover, 72 percent plan to use their tablets as a part of their shopping process.

Mobile commerce habits expected to be taken on by holiday shoppers include everything from scanning barcodes to buying.

This thirtieth annual Deloitte holiday survey involved the participation of 4,000 American consumers. Though the study was commissioned by Deloitte, the final report did not actually mention which firm was hired to conduct the research. Moreover, it did not identify the methods used for selecting the respondents.

That said, the results with regards to the way the participants intended to use their smartphones for m-commerce purposes this holiday season included the following:

• Find store locations – 60 percent
• Price comparisons – 55 percent
• Browsing and “window shopping” online – 50 percent
• Product review reading – 46 percent
• Finding and using coupons and discounts – 45 percent
• Product description reading – 45 percent
• Product inventory checking at sites and stores – 43 percent
• Purchasing a product online – 41 percent
• Consulting social networks – 39 percent
• SMS for exclusive deals from retailers – 33 percent
• Scanning product barcodes for more info – 27 percent

It’s clear from this mobile commerce study that consumers are involving the use of their smartphones and tablets at every stage of the shopping process from product discovery to finding the best place to buy it, locating better prices, informing themselves and actually making the purchase.

Shopify introduces Sello, making it easier for consumers to sell products in the mobile space

With more people entering into the mobile commerce landscape, some are finding shopping and making purchases with their mobile devices somewhat difficult. They are also finding it somewhat complicated to sell products in the mobile space. To resolve this issue and make mobile commerce somewhat simpler, Shopify has launched a new mobile application, called Sello. The app is free for both iOS and Android devices and is designed as a convenient way for people to participate in mobile shopping.

Sello aims to increase the convenience of mobile commerce, allowing more consumers to sell products

Sello is meant to allow anyone to create an online store, share the products that they find or offer through social networks, and make payments from a smartphone. Sello is not geared toward merchants that have significant comfort in the mobile shopping space, rather it allows a wide range of people to sell products in much the same way merchants do through Shopify’s primary platform. Shopify suggests that the average consumer has found it challenging to sell products online in the mobile space, but Sello may be able to change this.

Casual selling has been somewhat challenging for consumers in the mobile space

Consumers have long found selling products through conventional e-commerce platforms somewhat convenient. As mobile devices become more prominent, however, these sellers are beginning to focus more heavily on the mobile space. Finding convenient ways to accomplish this has been difficult, but Sello’s ability to interface with social networks could make mobile shopping and selling easier, allowing more consumers to participate in mobile commerce more often.

Shopify has taken note of the rise in casual selling

Shopify has a great deal of experience in the mobile commerce space, having provided many retailers with a wide range of services in the past. Sello represents a first for Shopify, which had been focused on established merchants for much of its existence. The rise in casual selling has lead Shopify into new territory, hoping to better engage consumers and make them more comfortable with mobile commerce as a whole.