mCommerce Selling: What it is, Why You Should Care, and How to Do It Right
March 16, 2022Internet companies, e-tailers, and D2C brands are now competing for a rapidly growing seller space – your smartphone.
Over the years, buyers have grown greatly comfortable making purchases using their smartphones. And the trend is on the rise.
In 2021, 57% of all internet traffic globally, came from mobile phones. Furthermore, 92% of all internet users access the web using a mobile device.
This has propelled eCommerce to diversify into its mobile-enabled variant, which we refer to as mobile commerce or mCommerce.
In 2022, if you have an eCom website, it’s quite likely that more than 50% of your traffic also comes from mobile users.
If those many of your users are on the phone, shouldn’t you be planning for it? That is what a mobile ecommerce platform does and we’re going to explore mCommerce in greater detail in this article.
What is mobile commerce or mCommerce?
Mobile Commerce or mCommerce is digital selling and associated activities being facilitated on an internet-enabled mobile device such as a smartphone. It includes everything from browsing your favorite products on an online store to placing orders and accessing customer service using a mobile device.
The shopping experience on a mobile device is different from a desktop one. Brands have a wider window for marketing and engagement. They can leverage features such as location tracking, ecommerce software, and better advertising for driving sales.
Etsy is a popular mobile ecommerce platform for handmade craft items with about 65% of all buyers coming from mobile devices. Etsy’s mobile interface is designed to make it easy to browse and navigate.
Just like eCommerce, mCommerce is not just about shopping. It is made up of several commerce domains such as;
- Mobile banking
- Mobile payments
- Mobile marketing
- Social commerce
- Mobile wallets
- Location-based services
Popular Examples of Mobile Commerce
There are many ways that brands employ to drive sales through a mobile commerce channel. Here are the most popular ones to look out for.
- Shopping Mobile Apps
- Shopping via Mobile Web
- Social Commerce enabled by Social Media Apps
- AR Shopping
- Shopping enabled by Conversational Chat Apps
- Product Discovery Platform
- C2C Commerce Mobile Apps
Why You Should Care About Mobile Commerce?
If you’re in the eCommerce business, it’s time for you to leverage mobile commerce. There are enough market stats and user behavior patterns to shed light on why mobile commerce is going to be critical for internet businesses in the coming years.
We have summarized the importance of mCommerce in 4 key market insights.
- Mobile wallets are expected to give rise to a $3.5 trillion industry by 2023. (Retail Dive)
Mobile wallets make it easier to not only pay at physical stores but to carry out online transactions. With the explosive growth in this billion-dollar industry, eCommerce businesses must prioritize mobile wallets as one of the preferred payment methods.
- 79% of smartphone users have made an online purchase transaction using their mobile device in the last 6 months. (Outerbox)
Every 3 in 4 smartphone users are making online purchases, confirming that mobile commerce has a strong part to play. Businesses can create targeted strategies to capture mobile audiences and drives sales for their online outlets.
- 61% of mobile consumers convert better with mobile sites that offer personalized information based on location and preferences. (Google)
One of the inherent advantages of mobile commerce is that you can gain fine-grained insights about the user. Most smartphones have GPS functionalities allowing marketers to personalize shopping suggestions for users, that are evidently liked by the shoppers.
- Shopping is the fastest growing mobile app category with 54% year-on-year growth. (Statista)
Shopping Apps have been wildly successful in retaining users with engagement strategies. More brands than ever are launching their own shopping apps that help them build a strong and recurring userbase.
How Can Business Owners Harness the Power of mCommerce?
For business owners, it’s both an opportunity and a task to integrate mCommerce into their existing eCom strategy. We have shortlisted the best ways to do so in 2022 for practical outcomes.
Leverage a Mobile eCommerce Platform
Optimizing the shopping experience for the buyers could get widely complex. Thankfully, we have software solutions that help you set up your own mobile store in no time. You can customize the look and feel of the store, and also integrate custom functions for increasing sales.
Trying to build a new website, especially for mobile web, can prove to be slow and costly. Whereas, a ready-to-go mobile platform reduces CapEx and reduces your time-to-market. Upload your products, edit the template and you’re good to roll.
Go Mobile and Get Social
Social media apps influence shopping decisions more than ever. Hence, keeping social commerce close to the base can prove beneficial for your store. Integrating Facebook Shopping, Twitter Ads, etc for your mobile website can help you improve the performance of your mobile commerce store.
Mobile users invariably share content from social channels containing shopping information with other users. This proves instrumental in improving the marketing and shareability of your mobile website also.
Offer Mobile-only Incentives
Incentivizing users to shop from their smartphones can help you build recurring revenue. We already know that it’s more convenient to shop from a smartphone. With a little extra motivation such as a mobile-only discount code, or in-app offers, you can boost your mobile commerce conversions. Using a mobile ecommerce platform could be a good idea here.
Employ Mobile-native Marketing
Smartphones offer several avenues for marketers to engage their buyers in non-intrusive ways. Some popular marketing tactics include;
- Push Notifications
- Location-based Recommendations
- AR/VR Shopping
- Scan and Shop Functions
- Targeted Advertising
These features can truly optimize the shopping experience for your users while enabling you to market at lower costs.
Conclusion
It’s safe to say that mobile commerce is only going to grow. As eCommerce business owners, it’s up to you now, if you’d like to participate in the revolution. We already have everything from a free ecommerce platform to mobile app builders that make your mobile commerce journey easier. Attracting mobile users is one strategy that every internet business would want to put its brains to, because the competition is heating up.
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