It was shortly before Steve Jobs passed away that he predicted the ultimate dominance of mobile computing devices over desktops and laptops. In less than a decade, the popularity of mobile device is at its peak. Internet accessibility via mobile devices has paved the way to major changes on how we shop online.
The term m-commerce was first introduced in 1997, but it took two decades for it to account for up to 34.5% of online purchases. So, what exactly is m-commerce? Simply out, mobile commerce of m-commerce is the utilization of mobile devices in browsing, buying, and selling of products and services. It is a collective term for the online shopping experience that happens using mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.
As of 2019, it has been noted that the increase in mobile device ownership in countries across the world has contributed to the continuous popularity of m-commerce. Due to the convenience, 8 out of 10 customers complete their shopping using their respective mobile devices. Due to its unwavering popularity and growth, experts believe that it will beat non-mobile and traditional commerce in 2021.
Due to the increasing popularity of m-commerce, companies invest a huge chunk of their budgets on digital advertising. In 2018 alone, almost $71B was spend on mobile advertising- an amount that exceeded the $31B budget for desktop advertising services. With this growing trend in m-commerce, no wonder people are starting to direct their attention on companies that offer optimized and mobile-friendly sites for successful purchase of their necessities.
What does the future hold for m-commerce?
As the market share growth of mobile commerce reaped a whopping 501 billion in 2018, entrepreneurs should now focus their efforts in finding ways on how to ride this promising wave early on. We have compiled some relevant information about m-commerce and how you can integrate your business on the many growth opportunities that it offers. Here are some of them:
Polish the M-Commerce Shopping Experience
Shopping on mobile devices is vastly different from purchasing goods from online or bricks and mortar shops. The offline shopping experience is next to impossible to recreate, if not impossible altogether. Unlike in-store flash sales that promote a strong sense of urgency, these deals can be hard to replicate on e-commerce sites. But there are, of course, techniques on how you can encourage customers to buy from your site. Utilize an evidence-based approach for your m-commerce site to identify what techniques work and which ones do not complement your existing strategy. Try out different app designs, payment gateways, sales, storefronts, and other elements that are deemed crucial in the online shopping experience.
Utilize Data Obtained From M-Commerce Consumer Behaviors
The diversity in the mobile devices used and variations in platform segmentation are pressing challenges in strategizing how to sell your products and services via m-commerce. Simply put, developing apps, geoservices and marketing campaigns is different between Android and iOS devices. Take advantage of mobile analytics to find out which devices are frequently used by your target audience. Equipped with pertinent device data, it becomes easier to make changes based on what are the most impactful mobile channels to reach your customers.
Establish Shopper Audiences
Carefully assess shopper activities, mobile app activity, visit frequency, and other vital information in relation to customer behavior, so that you can create shopper audiences. Find out what percentage of your customers are first-time buyers or repeat buyers. You can then try rolling out various offers then deliver the right offer to the right segment of your audience at the right time. Try using an analytics program that supports mobile apps and one that prepares revenue metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of your offers.
Keep Your Shoppers Focused on Completing Their Online Purchase
Keeping shoppers serious in buying your product is challenging but getting them to finalize the checkout process is more difficult. Don’t suggest irrelevant offers until a shopper has finalized their purchase. Additional offers presented prior to checkout should complement the product they are about to purchase, making them more desirable and higher chances that shoppers will add them to their cart. Make sure all storefront offerings are well- curated to further enhance the buying experience.
Simplify the Checkout Process
You can persuade shoppers to buy by streamlining the checkout process. Apply convenient and secure payment gateway systems, including PayPal, e-wallets, and easy-click payment options that eliminate the tedious registration and entry of credit card information.
Retarget Cart Abandoners
You may be turning buyers away because of a loosely designed storefront or lengthy checkout process. Your goal is to turn shoppers into sure buyers. You can do this by retargeting users throughout the entire shopping experience . Do not forget to focus your attention on shoppers who abandoned their carts. Bring the right offer at the right time and see how your conversions grow over time. you may also try cross-selling additional products to your customers at the checkout page.
Take Advantage of Peer-to-Peer Social Media Shares and User-Generated Content
Create a social media account for your site, so you can easily marker your products to a wider audience. It’s also smart to reward customers who help spread the word of your exclusive offerings and discounts. Inviting friends to sign-up to your m-commerce store will generate hot leads and turn eventually result in conversions.
Mass peer-to-peer generation and social media shares can bring substantial revenue to retailers and will contribute significantly to your business growth.
Capture the Right Users
It’s easy to acquire users form mobile shopping apps but difficult to capture guaranteed buyers. Focusing your attention to buyers will increase your engagement level. Instead of targeting just about anybody, promote your mobile app to previous and existing buyers. It may also be beneficial to work with vendors that allow you to focus on audiences of buyers that are similar to your best customers.
As more shoppers are becomingly more dependent on interconnectedness using their mobile devices, it’s a smart move to invest your energy and efforts into optimizing your m-commerce site and enhancing overall shopping experience. To take advantage of the benefits and huge revenue from m-commerce, we highly recommend that your ride the way soon, or run the risk of your ecommerce site being washed out away by your competition.