Research outfit Gartner has found that while consumers are still more likely to browse than to buy using their mobile phones (no surprise there), they are comfortable with checking the price of an item or finding a store on their handset. According to a survey by the company, US shoppers are twice as likely to check for prices of items as to buy items from their mobile phone and UK consumers were similar.
The survey also found that the younger a person is, the more likely they are to buy over their mobiles, with shoppers between 18 and 27 almost twice as likely to mobile shopping than those aged between 43 and 61.
Meanwhile, Gartner says, the changing form factor of mobiles and faster mobile network are leading many retailers to think about adding a mobile channel over the next year or two. Given the continued reluctance of people to go shopping on their mobiles, you could argue that the willingness to push ahead with m-commerce is a bit incongruous. I’d say quite the opposite – how is m-commerce ever going to flourish if there are no mobile stores for users to go to?
The trouble is we all know how these things can go wrong. Just look at the early days of internet shopping; maybe five times out of ten some crucial page wouldn’t load and you had no idea whether you’d ordered/paid for something or not. Then it became a bigger pain the rear than having just gone to the shop or got on the phone. That situation’s pretty much gone now but, even as big-time mobile internet user, I don’t think I yet trust my phone for those transactions. Maybe illogical, but I’ll wait till I get to a proper keyboard and connection, thanks…
Yes, users need mobile stores which they can trust, which are easy to “handle” and most important, are useful. I think mainly the older generations are skeptical because they (besides being not that technique affine) can’t see any benefits in mobile buying. As long as it doesn’t seem to have any advantage over other ways of buying, mobile buying won’t be used by “older” generations.
I read this report completely differently. I think it’s very positive. Awareness of mobile shopping is growing fast. We know it’s starting to gain traction in the US, but it’s exciting to see hard data about take-up in the UK as well.
It is a chicken-and-egg situation, without shops there can be no customers and vice-versa. This is something that we at MyMart have worked hard to address, finding innovative ways for retailers to build their audiences from day 1.
It may be more of a challenge to encourage older folks to engage in m-commerce, but they will come once the concepts have been proven and credible new brands become recognisable.
I think that it is obvious to everyone nowadays that the convenience of the mobile telephone conversation is just another accepted fact of the modern lifestyle and not just in the West but in emerging economies, also. I see no reason why mobile commercial accessibility won’t go the same way. Apart from the convenience of mobility, which is the obvious key factor, there is the ’emotion and immediacy’ factor which is simply not present on the conventional web and offers incredible new opportunity opportunity at public events, conventions, concerts, etc. in this respect mcommerce is much more tangible than ecommerce.
Frankly the number of potential applications and growth potential seems to me to be unlimited and only dragged back by over-priced operator data tariffs. Once these trivial barriers are removed, then this terrific new channel will be easier to identify.