A new study undertaken by Onepoll for MoPowered, a mobile commerce (m-commerce) solution aimed at the smaller retail sector, has found that most small and medium sized retailers want to incorporate m-commerce as part of their customer offering – but only a quarter actually have a website that is compatible for m-commerce.
Of the 300 small and medium sized retailers surveyed for the study, 89 per cent recognised that m-commerce is an essential tool for winning new business, with many respondents believing that m-commerce sales would grow by a third within the next 5 years. However, only 24 per cent of these retailers were in a position to use m-commerce, with many put off from doing by the perceived high costs and concerns about security.
Retailers are right: m-commerce will undoubtedly help to boost business and expand their companies, and predictions of its growth are not unfounded.
According to the most recent IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, the m-commerce market increased by 254 per cent year-on-year in March 2012 and achieved average growth of 300 per cent for the first quarter of 2012. Also, a new study by eDigitalResearch and Portaltech Reply revealed that 64 per cent of smartphone owners are now using their mobile devices to shop online and research from Google has revealed that approximately 15 per cent of all online traffic is now coming through mobile devices.
These are staggering statistics and should encourage retailers to look at incorporating mobile devices into their retail strategies at the earliest opportunity.