According to Abi Research mCommerce market will continue to grow and accelerate in the future, by 2015 turnover will reach 119 billion dollars (about 8% of ecommerce market). This is not surprising, as more and more sellers understand that potential buyers do not leave their house without a phone, which is very well involved into the purchasing process. United States and Europe will show a huge growth rates – the amount of mCommerce in the United States in 2009 was almost 9 times less than in Japan ($ 1.2 billion against $ 10 billion, the data Abi Research). In the U.S., Forrester forecast mobile commerce revenue will grow from 6 billion to $ 31 billion in 2016, which is 7% of eCommerce in the whole country.
Major commodity segments in mobile commerce in the U.S. is travel services (31%) primarily tickets and hotels, computers / electronics (20%), clothing (13%), books / music / DVD (9% ), office equipment (7%), utensils (6%), movie tickets, theater or other event (3%).
In developed countries the market penetration reaches 100% or more (U.S. – 96%, UK – 123%, Germany – 130%, Russia – 147%), other countries show significantly less use of mobile phones (India – 65% China – 64% Pakistan – 60%). The mobile devices market in these countries is different. In developing countries we see extensive growth, there appear and are actively used cheap mobile phones, so-called feature phone, giving a huge increase in the total number of mobile phones.
What device can be considered “mobile”?
By this term we refer all mobile phones, smart phones, PDAs and tablets. All devices that we can actively use “on the go”: in a store, a subway, on the road. That’s why it does not include, for example, netbooks (often inferior in performance to the same tablet or phone).
Adapting your website for mobile devices
One of the significant barriers for M-commerce is many unadjusted websites for mobile applications. If you open an online store or other types of e-commerce, ensure that your website is available for viewing on mobile devices. This will significantly increase the audience of a web resource and bring an additional revenue.
All experts in marketing and e-commerce fields agree that mobile commerce market will grow in coming years. This is primarily due to the continued growth of sales in the world of mobile devices and the development of wireless technology.
Tips to improve mobile commerce strategy
1. Start a mobile website
2. Redirect mobile users to the mobile version of your site
3. Provide a convenient search box
4. Provide the same range of products as on the desktop version of your website
5. Don’t make registration a mandatory
6. Make sure the shopper can purchase an item within a couple clicks
7. Use alternative payment methods.
8. Design the email campaign for mobiles
9. Provide a convenient product filtering
10. Show delivery details on the product page
11. Ensure that the page load speed as fast as possible
12. Give alternatives to mobile checkout
Marta Gromadzka is a writer and editor with a wide variety of experience, including writing for websites internationally and editing books on many different subjects and in a variety of formats.
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