Tag: mobile trends

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.

A new report has shown that the market for wearables isn’t anywhere near leveling off in its expansion.

A new report relased by IDTechEx Research has shown that the marketplace for wearable technology is going to continue to grow, and that it won’t be doing so at a slow pace.

This has been particularly true when it comes to applications in industry as well as in the military.

This year, it is estimated that the wearables global market value is $20.2 billion in the IDTechEx Research report that was recently issued by the firm and that was entitled “Wearable Technology 2015-2015: Technologies, Markets, Forecasts.” It pointed out that almost 75 percent of the market’s revenue is expected to be generated from categories that have had the chance to mature a little more than others, such as fitness trackers, smartwatches, and earphones. However, it also underscored the fact that it will be wearables in military, industrial and commercial markets that will see the greatest growth and that will represent the largest amount of revenue.

The report specifically pointed out that it will be in these industries where wearable technology will be allowed to shine.

As wearables are incorporated into a larger number of sectors and settings, the report stated that it will lead to a notable growth in the existing systems of this tech. That said, it pointed specifically to healthcare applications as the largest market for these mobile devices. “Many of the companies looking to commercialize new wearable technology are searching for partners in the healthcare and medical industries,” stated the report.

Another market that was pointed out as one that should be seeing growth is that of infotainment, which should include products such as Oculus VR headsets, Google Glass and other types of smartglasses and augmented reality glasses.

The wearable camera market is another space that the IDTechEx said was up and coming. The release of this report comes on the heels of an announcement made in August by the Pentagon, which stated that a high-tech company and researcher consortium would be partnering to come up with wearable technology that would be appropriate for military applications.