It's a fact that mobile users today carry mobile devices everywhere they go. They are already using their phones to redeem coupons, research products, or pay for things online and offline. This became something completely normal.
With mobile, it's now feasible to track an individual from the very first intention to shop for an item, to the actual purchase at point-of-sale. This is something very important.
A recent report from BI Intelligence, which analyzed the size of the mobile commerce opportunity, and examine how some of the top mobile commerce trends ( like mobile payments, tablet commerce, and SoLoMo (social-local-mobile) marketing, etc. ) are contributing to a big increase in mobile commerce. This analysis showed that mobile commerce is big, and getting bigger: 29% of U.S. mobile users already have used their smartphones to make a purchase.
Bank of America predicts $67.1 billion in revenue from smartphone and tablet retail purchasing by European and U.S. shoppers in 2015.
Many other statistics - such as YOY quadrupling in traffic from tablet visitors to retail websites - suggest a similarly huge wave of mobile commerce to come.
Mobile payments solutions will help drive growth, that's for sure. Mobile payments are important because of the value that can be created as a direct link between brands and consumers. For example, that the direction which Passbook took. Their payments started with coupons, loyalty rewards, and ticketing. Established mobile payments players, such as Square and Google Wallet, are building solutions to offer shopping-related services.
Next, tablet usage is increasing. We know for a long time that consumers use their tablets to research purchases. But tablets are also used to complete purchases, much more than smartphones!
Tablets drive more traffic to online retailers than smartphones, and tablet consumers spend more per transaction than PC-based shoppers. This is an important fact we need to be aware about. With tablet sales set to explode in the coming years, this trend will only increase.
The nature of mobile makes it really attractive to marketers. Commerce has always struggled with two basic problems. First, increasing consumer traffic, and second, influencing shopping decisions just as the consumer's about to buy. With the location targeting, shoppers can be enticed into stores for items they're in the market for. With in-store mobile marketing, an indecisive consumer can be nudged toward a specific brand or product.
Source: BusinessInsider Image