The stunning expansion of mobile communication has significantly changed the methods of trading on a global scale. The incremental amount of devices suitable for m-commerce encourages the tremendous growth of this market segment. The diffusion of wireless handheld devices, such as smartphones and tablet computers, provides a strong baseline for mobile commerce.
Today, m-commerce is a profitable and rapidly developing market that can be defined as the ability to handle business transactions using portable devices. The notion includes bill payments, ticket purchasing, online banking, brokerage services, mobile marketing, advertising, information acquisition, and more.
Being the technological progeny of e-commerce, m-commerce provides on-the-go mobile users with the possibility to surf the Internet, purchase or sell a broad range of goods and services. There is no need to prove that mobile commerce will definitely exert influence on market development and will demonstrate sustainable growth in the near future. According to Forrester, m-commerce sales will exceed $23 billion in 2017, as consumers increasingly turn to their phones to inform themselves both about online and offline purchases.
However, entrepreneurs who are going to take advantage of m-commerce for their businesses should think about how to measure its effectiveness. In order to secure a return on investment, it’s better to analyze the efficiency of m-commerce initiatives with the help of the following critical metrics:
- Traffic: it’s crucial for any online business to have a sufficient volume of traffic. That’s why it’s important to verify what part of it comes from the mobile Internet.
- Genuine users: it’s also essential to count the number of genuine users who found your product or service with the help of a mobile device.
- Enhanced revenue: it’s also important to measure the share of your income, gained through m-commerce activity.
- Closed transactions: it’s wise to know how many purchases have made your customers using their smartphones.
- Effectiveness of mobile advertising: be ready to count the correlation between ad spending and the outcome of the mobile advertising campaign.
When deciding on whether to use mobile commerce solutions in your business, it’s better to consider the next aspects:
- For what reason will you use it? To promote your service or product, to attract new customers and business partners, or to maintain your brand awareness.
- What is your target audience? Think about the main characteristics of mobile users and what benefits they appreciate, e.g. ubiquity, immediacy, instant connectivity, or something else.
- In what way can you use mobile commerce? Try to understand what will be useful for your business: a mobile-optimized website or a specifically developed mobile application, or both of them.
It’s no question that there are plenty of ways to secure profit with the help of mobile marketing or m-commerce. If you are still in doubts, consider the numbers below:
- According to a Capgemini survey of 16,000 online shoppers around the world, 51% of them expect that by 2020 many physical stores will exist merely as a place to show products available for online orders.
- A new study by Custora Inc., a web and mobile analytics firm that specializes in retail, found that mobile shoppers make purchases 59% more often than desktop PC shoppers, and over a two-year cycle will bring in 32% more profit.
Customers are loyal to businesses that attempt to respond to their needs and go with the times. These days, high technology allows companies to be more service-oriented and to enhance their productivity.
Industries and Technology Areas:
Industries: retail, banking, consumer goods, and services, financial services
Technology Areas: mobile application development, e-commerce, m-commerce, online shopping, software development, tablet, iOS, iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone
