Strong results in mobile commerce and elsewhere still fail to meet expectations
eBay has become one of the major supporters of mobile commerce in the retail world. The online retail giant has identified the mobile space as one of its most lucrative and promising markets. Over last year’s holiday season, eBay experienced strong growth in mobile sales due to the various mobile commerce initiatives it had launched to attract consumers. The momentum the company generated last year carried into the first quarter of 2013, where sales reached impressive heights, but ultimately failed to reach eBay’s lofty goals.
Earnings fall slightly short though mobile commerce grows more popular
Earnings and revenue grew throughout the first quarter as many consumers continued to swarm eBay’s primary e-commerce site and make use of its mobile commerce application. Sales were strong throughout the quarter, with eBay noting a spike in mobile transactions being processed by PayPal. PayPal has become an integral part of eBay’s mobile commerce efforts. The payment processor is now being accepted in several physical stores, allowing consumers to use their PayPal accounts to purchase goods from their mobile device.
PayPal shows strong growth
While earnings may have been slightly off estimates, eBay has high hopes for the rest of the year and beyond. The company expects its revenue to reach $23.5 billion by 2015, a 67% increase over the revenue it had generated in 2012. eBay’s European business performed more modestly than its U.S. counterpart, but still managed to show strong results. The company notes that PayPal’s revenue grew 18% by the end of the first quarter.
eBay expected to continue focus on mobile space
Mobile commerce is expected to continue playing a significant role in eBay’s future. The company anticipates that it will see its highest mobile sales come during the holiday season at the end of the year. Last year’s holiday season proved that mobile commerce has a strong allure to a broad spectrum of consumers and eBay is expected to continue refining its approach to this field.
Wal-Mart has high hopes for mobile commerce
Wal-Mart is already considered the world’s largest retailer, but the company is eager to solidify its place as such by providing services that it claims no other retailer will be able to match. The retailer has plans to combine its 10,000 stores and 10 global e-commerce websites in order to develop a new platform that the company believes is more suitable for the modern consumer. The initiative is meant to make Wal-Mart the most powerful online retailer in the world and mobile commerce may be able to help the company achieve this goal.
Consumers begin to favor mobile commerce over traditional commerce
Mobile commerce has grown to become a very attractive concept throughout the world. The idea that a mobile devices, whether it be a smartphone or tablet, can be used to purchase goods or pay for services has become very alluring to consumers. This idea means that these people would not have to worry about physical currencies and could make a purchase with little more than a wave of their device or a tap of their finger. The convenience of mobile commerce is one of its most attractive features, especially to those that rely heavily on their mobile devices, and Wal-Mart believes that mobile commerce could help it dominate the online world.
Retailer to launch new initiative this summer
Wal-Mart has announced a plan to launch a pilot project this summer. This project involves allowing consumers to purchase products online and retrieve these products from lockers in physical Wal-Mart stores. This is similar to an initiative that was launched by Wal-Mart’s primary competitor, Amazon, where the online retailer would deliver purchased products to stores so that they could be picked up at a convenient time for consumers. This particular service will be somewhat accommodating to mobile consumers as the service will be optimized for use on mobile devices.
Retailer to update e-commerce platforms
Wal-Mart also has plans to renovate its e-commerce structure. Currently, the company’s online retail presence is based on old technological platforms. Many of these platforms are simply not designed to accommodate mobile traffic. As such, these platforms are often linked to poor performance on mobile devices. In an effort to better accommodate mobile commerce, Wal-Mart has plans to upgrade its e-commerce platforms.
