31 January 2022
Mobile commerce is a relatively young field that has already gained popularity among both entrepreneurs and consumers. At the end of 2021, it accounted for almost 73% of all retail sales. Among 6.64 billion smartphone users, about 79% shop online using their portable devices.
Mobile commerce is not limited to social networks. Many brands release their apps and tools that help buy goods, make payments, or work with digital accounts in a couple of clicks.
Today, you will learn: how mobile commerce works in modern business, why market leaders focus on it, and how to develop it to maximize profit. Let’s plunge into the world of IT solutions for trading!
What Is Mobile Commerce?
It is an offshoot of traditional e-commerce, where the main sales channel falls on smartphones and tablets. The mobile device market is growing rapidly: according to Canalys, about 347 million smart gadgets were sold worldwide in 2021. Apple is the leader with a 29.24% share of sales.
Modern users cannot imagine their life without smartphones. Gen Z is leading the digitization race, spending all their leisure time in front of smartphone screens. At the same time, the average age of a mobile buyer in the United States is 25–34 years, according to Statista’s report for 2020. In Europe, the statistics are more interesting: millennials made purchases via smartphones on a par with the younger generation in the same reporting period.
Kinds
Although we talk about mobile commerce as a kind of trade, it’s not entirely true. Now this concept unites three types of financial services:
- E-Commerce. Traditional e-commerce omnichannel trade. This category includes marketplaces, digital stores, business accounts in social networks, communities in instant messengers, and everything connected with them: native mobile apps, web resources, and hybrid software.
- Banking. Lending, microloans, deposits, financial accounting, and other services directly related to money. To ensure accessibility for mobile users, entrepreneurs use their IT products, web solutions, chatbots, or communities in social apps.
- Payment systems. Another type of mobile banking providing intermediary services when making payments, sending money, or other financial transactions. This kind appeared recently but is already firmly rooted in the mobile commerce IT product market.
The versatility of modern mobile e-commerce opens up prospects for small and mid-sized businesses. This niche will develop in the next ten years, and those who will release at least MVPs will scale and monetize their startups.
Benefits
- Accessibility. All operations are performed remotely using a smartphone. Physical documents and visits to local offices are not required.
- Speed. Purchases are made with just a couple of taps on the interface elements. Lending decisions are made by AI, which can analyze requests independently.
- Mobility. Modern logistics and electronic services allow you to receive goods at the nearest branch of the delivery service, and money is credited to the virtual account.
Disadvantages
- Security. Some IT solutions aren’t protected from outside interference. Vulnerabilities in modern mobile operating systems also pose a danger when making payments.
- Locality. Many suppliers of goods or services operate in particular GEOs, which complicates access to them for users from neighboring countries or regions.
- Openness. Consumers compare product prices or credit rates on many resources and refuse to overpay some suppliers.
As a result, mobile commerce has adopted some disadvantages of traditional one, but it outperforms it in terms of advantages. In fact, this area is still developing and gradually improving, acquiring new opportunities and closing some of the vulnerabilities. But one thing is clear: the next decade will put things in order, making mobile commerce the predominant tool for efficient business operation.
Trading in Your Pocket: Why Do You Need Mobile Apps for E-commerce?
It is no secret that users spend about four hours a day behind smartphone screens, while the share of browser use does not exceed 9.16%. It means that consumers use third-party apps like social media clients, instant messengers, banking systems, news aggregators, marketplaces, and brand resources.
Why is that? Mobile apps allow developers to implement broad functionality, package it in a convenient and friendly interface, debug it, and test it. Quality plays a key role when consumers choose a supplier. If a web resource or a native IT solution takes a long time to load, updates content rarely, and requires additional and annoying actions, about 57% of buyers choose another place to buy.
Convenience
The interface is the face of any app. Its design and logic affect the user experience and, accordingly, the desire of consumers to purchase a product or service. Another critical characteristic is the availability of services on the menu: payment, social, or communicative.
Speed
Overloading an app with graphical elements negatively impacts its performance and data processing speed on the client side. Slow loading or errors when filling out the shopping cart or entering contact/payment information are reasons consumers refuse and move on to competitors.
Communication
Communication between the consumer and the distributor has now become an indispensable component of retail. Customer loyalty depends entirely on the quality and speed of communication. If store representatives can’t answer everyone at once, chatbots do this with ease. Modern technologies make it possible to implement a smart ML/AI-based assistant in apps, web resources, and instant messengers. It can’t replace live communication, but it gives users the confidence that they are valued.
Mobile Commerce Optimization: Expert Tips
Take care of customers in advance when launching a startup or providing digital transformation of a store/showcase on a marketplace. Let the early MVP perform only the main functions, but it must work at 100%. The minimum set of trading app features for its release is a shopping cart, payment services, filters, search, and chat. It is quite enough to launch your project effectively. What else is important in mobile commerce?
Simple UI
Not all consumers use the latest smartphones and tablets from Apple or Samsung. It is obvious, considering the prices they offer. That’s why it’s important to make the design of your app “airy,” not overloading the device. It is better to use cloud technologies for processing information and rendering heavy graphics. Fortunately, they are now financially affordable even for a small startup.
Maximum Integration
Do you want to get the maximum benefit from cooperation with your consumers? Allow them to share purchases with friends on social networks. No other marketing channel generates as much organic traffic as word of mouth. You can even encourage customers with bonus points or promotions.
The online banking sector is growing, offering various payment systems and services. Keep up with this trend. Integrate the most popular mobile commerce tools into your apps: Apple Pay, Google Pay, local banking systems, PayPal, etc.
Cross-Selling
What is the average buyer’s check? It is the amount spent in one session. In 90% of cases, consumers do not understand that they need an accessory for the main purchase, a cover, or a consumable. That’s why it is worth hinting at promotional offers, the cost of re-delivery, or the shortage of such goods. Users are more willing to pay more if they are offered relevant things as additions.
Cashback, Loyalty, and Promotional Offers
The savings trend has emerged recently but has become popular all over the world. The return of part of the funds spent is nothing more than an additional incentive to buy more. After all, the higher the transaction amount, the more money is returned to the wallet.
The loyalty system works similarly. The more often and more expensively your clients make purchases, the more points they earn, save, and spend on other goods, compensating for part of the funds. Considering retail margins, your store won’t lose money, especially if the maximum discount is limited (the figure may be specified in the program terms).
Sales of illiquid goods, themed promotions, pre-holiday discounts, and other marketing techniques take root in mobile commerce perfectly. Arrange a waterfall of prices: you will increase your turnover by attracting those who like to buy cheaper.
Let’s Summarize
Mobile commerce follows all the rules of traditional trading. Similar marketing techniques are effective here, and omnichannel and scalability are provided. To launch a startup successfully, you need market analysis, strategy, and a high-tech MVP. If you are thinking about starting your mobile commerce project, you have already dealt with the first two points. Rocketech will help you with the third one!
We will develop a comprehensive IT solution that will satisfy your customers and allow you to compete even with market leaders. If you still don’t know what should be in the application, we will advise. To discuss cooperation, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our manager. Delegate tasks to Rocketech and develop your startup faster.