Mobile Commerce – The Challenges
Mobile commerce (m-commerce) has grown at a rapid rate in the past 12 months, catalysed by the increasing numbers of application stores on the variety of operating systems now available, however even the purchase of mobile content isn’t the only success.
In 2009, eBay generated $500m in sales via mobile, and expects to smash that figure in 2010. That was over 1.5 million items, including a $75k Chevrolet Corvette and a £19k boat!
Purchases worth tens of thousands of pounds; in just a simple click via their mobile.
Along with Amazon (who have both an iPhone application and a mobile website), they make up 70% of m-commerce transactions worldwide. All this can be attributed to taking the consideration to prepare and design a dedicated mobile site, rather than optimising the desktop site, in order to leverage the existing web infrastructure, and have a process and user flow that is cohesive between the platforms. Of course this is supported by a seamless payment process and other factors, but the importance of usability should not be underestimated.
But what makes m-commerce such a viable solution and/or extension to current commerce activity?
- Convenience – Mobile creates the opportunity to shop without hitting the high street, and from the comfort of your sofa, the train or your walk in the park.
- Accessibility – Should you decide to do your walk in the park at 3am in the morning, you can rely on the fact that the m-commerce store will still be open!
- Ease of payment – Whether it’s an integrated account with your MNO (mobile network operator), or saved account details, it is relatively easy to pay for your goods too!
- Location aware – Should you not want the hassle of entering delivery details if not saved, there is the capacity to locate your local outlet and pick up your items yourself.
However, although the potential for m-commerce is clear, there remain several key challenges before it is adopted mainstream.
The main issue (at the moment anyway) is the iPhone obsession. Now I do not want this to turn into yet ANOTHER Carl Martin iPhone rant, because it certainly is not that (hell I am an iPhone owner for crying out loud!). However, businesses are employing the wrong mobile strategy and not even considering the mobile web first. iPhone users may be more comfortable with making transactions, have greater disposable income and have better functionality to facilitate the process, but more often than not, the target market is not predominantly using the handset.
A good example of looking at handset usage is Ticketmaster (US). After recognising a siginifcant amount of traffic arriving on their site via mobile, they built a dedicated mobile site (although significantly lacking in design!). After its continued success, it opted to develop a Blackberry application because it has the largest market share in the US (46% in 2008).
But returning to British shores, 17% of Britons are willing to buy products and services through their phones, according to a survey of 1,000 UK adults in 2008, and this will no doubt have improved since the app store age, yet I can assure you that 17% are not all iPhone users! Especially considering iPhone market share in the UK is only 4%.
If you want to engage with your regular customers and attract a new consumer base, you need to fundamentally understand not only the ways in which they currently interact with your brand, but their personal values and issues relating to mobile transactions. A lot of consumers continue to be intimidated by the mobile web, never mind making a purchase decision using it.
Although applications may provide the most personable and relatable experience, this can severely segment your consumer base and isolate those who wish to shop via mobile. The best advice you can ever be offered when looking into the m-commerce arena is to consider the following:
- Does it have a broad reach?
- Is it targeted to your demographic?
- Is it an engaging experience for the user?
- Is the transactional process smooth and easy to use?
Without these considerations, you are setting up for a fall. Take heed of the example of eBay and Amazon, and look into the mobile web before taking the application route. And if you are worried that a mobile website may not look as good as an application, or even work as well as an application, take a look at the Interflora website on your mobile device. You may be very pleasantly surprised!
My final two hints:
- More often than not, people will try your mobile site first. If it isn’t available or is terrible, they will look to their app store. This is an indication of the way YOU should be thinking.
- Take a look at your main desktop sites web stats and take a look at who is visiting your site and via which mobile browser. This is a very basic level way of judging who is trying to access your site on the move.
1 reply to “Mobile Commerce – The Challenges”
Great post. We are all waiting for the big verticals (travel, books, finance) to move onto mobile. All the evidence from Japan suggests that people will start buying all types of stuff on their phones. Vouchercloud is doing interesting things in the coupon space, focusing on the iphone by the way. Also worth noting that the only really decent shopping mobile services to date (Amazon, Ocado etc) are on iphone.