mCommerce and Sales Growth Make a Bond

Introduction – what is mCommerce

mCommerce (mobile commerce) refers to the buying and selling goods and services through mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. This type of commerce has emerged due to the widespread use of mobile devices and the growing number of people who use their mobile devices for shopping and other transactions.

mCommerce offers consumers the convenience of shopping from anywhere and at any time and the ability to compare prices and products easily. It also allows businesses to reach and engage customers and sell their products and services through mobile channels.

Examples of mCommerce activities include purchasing items through a mobile app, making payments using a mobile device, and using mobile wallets and digital currencies for transactions. The development of mCommerce has also been facilitated by advancements in mobile technology, such as the widespread availability of high-speed internet and the growth of mobile payment systems.

Types of mCommerce

There are several types of mCommerce, including:

1. Mobile Shopping: This involves purchasing goods and services directly through a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet. This can be done through mobile-optimized websites or dedicated mobile shopping apps.
2. Mobile Payments: This refers to using a mobile device to make payments for goods and services. This can include mobile banking, mobile wallets, and mobile payment systems such as Apple Pay, Google Wallet, and Samsung Pay.
3. Mobile Banking: This allows consumers to access their bank accounts and perform financial transactions through their mobile devices, such as checking account balances, transferring money, and paying bills.
4. Mobile Advertising: This involves using mobile devices to deliver advertisements to consumers. This can include banner ads, pop-ups, and in-app advertisements.
5. Mobile Ticketing: This refers to using mobile devices to purchase and manage tickets for concerts, sporting events, and transportation.
6. Mobile Couponing: This involves using mobile devices to access and redeem digital coupons for discounts on goods and services.
7. Mobile Marketplaces: These refer to online platforms that allow consumers to purchase goods and services through their mobile devices. Examples include Amazon, eBay, and Etsy.

Each of these types of mCommerce plays a role in the growing trend of mobile commerce and helps to provide consumers with a more convenient and seamless shopping experience.

Pros of mCommerce

Here are some of the critical advantages of mCommerce:

1. Convenience: mCommerce allows consumers to shop from anywhere, anytime, using their mobile devices. This offers consumers a convenient and hassle-free shopping experience.
2. Increased Reach: mCommerce allows businesses to reach new customers who may not have access to traditional retail stores. This can help companies to expand their customer base and increase sales.
3. Improved Customer Engagement: mCommerce provides businesses with new opportunities to engage with customers through mobile channels, such as mobile apps and social media. This can help companies build stronger customer relationships and increase customer loyalty.
4. Personalized Shopping Experience: mCommerce enables businesses to provide a customized shopping experience for their customers using data such as past purchases and browsing history.
5. Faster Transactions: mCommerce enables consumers to make purchases and complete transactions more quickly and efficiently without the need to visit a physical store.
6. Enhanced Customer Insights: mCommerce provides businesses with valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences, which can be used to improve marketing and sales efforts.
7. Increased Product Availability: mCommerce enables businesses to offer their customers a broader range of products and services, as customers can easily compare products and prices from multiple sellers.
8. Cost Savings: mCommerce can help businesses to reduce their costs by streamlining their operations and reducing the need for physical stores and inventory.

These advantages demonstrate the many benefits that mCommerce can bring to consumers and businesses, making it an essential aspect of the modern retail industry.

Cons of mCommerce

Here are some of the critical disadvantages of mCommerce:

1. Security Concerns: Using mobile devices for transactions and financial information can expose customers to security risks, such as identity theft and fraud.
2. Limited Screen Size: Mobile devices have limited screen sizes, making it difficult for customers to view products and make informed purchasing decisions.
3. Technical Issues: Technical issues such as slow loading times, poor network connectivity, and software compatibility problems can impact the customer experience and limit the potential for mCommerce.
4. Dependence on Mobile Devices: mCommerce is reliant on mobile devices, which can limit the accessibility of products and services for customers who do not have access to or are not comfortable using mobile devices.
5. User Experience Challenges: The design and functionality of mCommerce apps and websites can play a critical role in the customer experience. Poorly designed or confusing interfaces can reduce the appeal of mCommerce and limit its potential.
6. Privacy Concerns: mCommerce can raise privacy concerns as businesses collect and store customer data, including personal information and transaction history.
7. Cost of Development: Developing and maintaining mCommerce apps and websites can be costly, limiting the potential for smaller businesses to participate in the mCommerce market.

These disadvantages highlight some of the challenges businesses and consumers may face with adopting mCommerce. However, many of these challenges can be addressed through careful planning, investment in technology and security, and the development of user-friendly mCommerce solutions.

How to get the most profit with mCommerce

mCommerce security

Security and the user’s desire to continue shopping go hand in hand. Protecting customer data is a top concern for a mobile commerce business owner. No one wants to be the victim of identity theft or fraudulent debiting.

Payment Methods

The worst enemy of a smartphone owner is manual input. Especially when it comes to entering bank card data when paying for goods; this is often encountered when buying on websites.

One of the significant advantages of m-commerce is the ability to pay with a bank card and with the help of mobile electronic wallets (Apple Pay, Android Pay), avoiding input errors and saving time.

User comfort

It is worth looking at the application from different angles: through the eyes of both the buyer and the business owner. The user must understand that you, for your part, are aiming to make a profit and build long-term relationships with him. This will be facilitated by surveys about the quality of service, feedback forms, a welcome guide when you first open the application.

Statistics Tracking

Mobile applications for retail offer convenient tools for tracking statistics. If websites require the connection of devices for collecting business statistics, such as Google Analytics, then mobile solutions allow you to analyze KPIs without third-party services. You can find out: the most popular product categories, time spent in the app, conversion rate, used mobile traffic, etc.

As a result, you will get to know your target audience better and understand their needs. By learning more about your customers, you can earn their loyalty.

The mobile application acts as a communication channel with customers and provides close interaction, thanks mainly to custom error reporting and social media integration. In addition, linking social networks and mail services to the application will simplify the registration of new users if you take care of the possibility of authorization through Facebook or Gmail.

Statistics for sales growth with mCommerce

These statistics demonstrate the rapid growth of mCommerce, its increasing impact on the retail industry, and the growing importance of mobile commerce for consumers and businesses. As more and more consumers adopt mobile devices and use them for shopping and other transactions, the sales growth of mCommerce will likely continue to rise in the coming years.

1. Mobile commerce sales are expected to reach $3.56 trillion in 2023.
2. In 2021, mobile commerce accounted for approximately 39% of all eCommerce sales worldwide.
3. Over 80% of internet users own a smartphone and spend an average of 3 hours per day using it for various activities.
4. In 2021, mobile app revenue was estimated to reach $157 billion, with 90% of this revenue generated by in-app purchases.
5. Mobile payments are increasing, with an estimated 1.6 billion users worldwide in 2021.
6. Mobile shopping app downloads are expected to reach over 8.5 billion by 2023.
7. In 2021, the average order value of a mobile commerce transaction was approximately $123.
8. Approximately 60% of all online searches are conducted through mobile devices.
9. Mobile commerce sales in the US are expected to reach $774 billion in 2023, a significant increase from $601 billion in 2022.
10. In the Asia-Pacific region, mCommerce sales are expected to reach $2.07 trillion in 2023, a significant increase from $1.52 trillion in 2022.
11. In Europe, mCommerce sales are expected to reach $716 billion in 2023, a significant increase from $556 billion in 2022.

Trends in mCommerce 2023

Mobile commerce accounts for 73% of the global e-commerce market and has already become the audience’s preferred shopping channel. And what trends and features will attract even more users to the retail mobile app?

Discounts on every screen 

Over the past year, the consumer activity of the population has fallen, and many users have switched to a savings model. According to the study, 71% of respondents preferred to avoid spending extra on clothes, 66% saved on entertainment outside the home, and 65% began to visit catering establishments less often. 

The desire to save money on the client’s part can be beneficially used in marketing communications. Based on the user journey map in mobile retail applications, it has been observed that the buyer adds more products to the cart when he sees that he is saving. For example, the catalog of the OZON app is dominated by discounted products. In the basket, the discount amount is highlighted in red, and the user immediately sees the benefit for each item. 

The user feels excellent savings, which motivates him to buy more than necessary. 

The Bristol mobile app also focuses on special offers and discounts. Along with the product catalog, the user sees a dynamic loyalty card that displays the available deal for the buyer.

Personalization 

Personalization is a trend that will continue to grow strongly in 2023. A targeted greeting by name and a personal account with personal birthday discounts have long been mandatory in applications. How else can you personalize communication? 

About 42% of brands plan to offer personalized product recommendations to their customers through tools such as quizzes. 

For example, cosmetics company Jones Road, which sells products through its DTC store, uses a “Find My Shade” quiz to collect data. In the mobile version of the site, users answer questions about skin type and makeup preferences. And the result is a personalized product recommendation, and an Add to Cart button. 

You can also use customer data to send push notifications. 

It has been found that such push notifications increase the engagement of user actions in the application by 88%. They also affect customer retention: 65% of users return to the app within 30 days of receiving a push notification.

Video content 

Video showing a product is gradually replacing photo content. In e-commerce applications, it develops in the format of Stories in a banned social network and video demonstrations. With the help of video, you can show the product in detail from all sides, as well as conduct a personal consultation, for example, in the mobile application of the Golden Apple network. 

An analog of Stories is shotted. With the advent of shots, it is planned to increase the involvement of mobile application users and increase the share of redeemed orders.

Location-based service (LBS)

Location-based service (LBS) is a service that allows you to determine the current location of the user. Based on the geolocation data of the client, you can track the places he visits and use for marketing purposes. For example, send push notifications with discounts or promotions when a customer is in a shopping center where your point of sale is. 

The location service can be integrated not only into a mobile application but also to ensure its operation in conjunction with a virtual discount card. Such a function can be especially relevant in a large shopping center. In a push notification, you can specify the floor on which the outlet is located or other data that can be used to find the desired store quickly. And, of course, such notifications allow you to return customers who spent a significant amount of time in the store and left it empty-handed.

Biometric Authentication 

According to Spiceworks, more than 60% of companies in Europe and North America use biometrics to protect their data and consider this method more secure than a pin or combination of login and password. 

Biometric authentication is rapidly becoming a popular component of multi-factor authentication strategies. It combines strong authentication with a user-friendly user interface.

AR, VR 

The trend toward using AR and VR technologies has dominated in recent years and will continue to develop in 2023. 

One of the most popular augmented reality games back in 2016 was the Pokemon Go mobile app. Then Snapchat and Instagram adapted the technology by releasing masks. 

AR and VR technologies will be relevant for retail applications. 

Apple and IKEA are already working on an app showing IKEA furniture in a customer’s home. It will use Apple’s ARKit. This means that new items will first be available through the app. Also, these technologies are widely implemented in industry, for example, simulation and elimination of emergencies. 

According to ResearchAndMarkets, the mobile augmented reality (MAR) market was valued at $10.7 billion in 2020 and will grow to $230.6 billion by 2027. At the moment, the fastest-growing vertical sector for technology adoption is education.

Beacon technology 

Beacon technology is a current way to communicate with users’ smartphones offline using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). Beacons are transmitters that connect to computerized devices via Bluetooth. Initially, they were used to notify customers about the most advantageous offers in retail outlets. Today, the range of lighthouses has expanded. 

Beacons are installed in shopping malls, airports, hospitals, and other locations. When the user’s mobile phone enters the coverage area of the beacon, the device sends relevant information to the user’s phone: promotion notification, location map, etc. 

BLE technology allows such a tag to interact with multiple devices simultaneously. Using beacons, you can automate the collection of information about customers, improve UX and increase user engagement.

Conclusion

Business owners invest in developing mobile applications for trading for many reasons. Applications provide a more significant ROI, increase customer loyalty and engagement, help promote, and make the site more recognizable.

A retail application is an essential attribute of modern business. Shortly, about two-thirds of online purchases will be made through mobile devices, which seems an excellent reason to start developing an m-commerce application.