Mobility changes the face of Ecommerce solution

The growth of technology (internet) has influenced the retail business globally by diverting it to the world wide web. Online shopping which was once considered to be unsafe and unsecured is now considered as the most convenient and smart way to shop by many around the world.

Of late the Ecommerce industry has started shifting its focus towards mobiles as the number of consumers who make use of mobile phones for shopping has increased rapidly. Enhancing user experience and providing users with their exact requirements is the new challenge for the online business runners and many of them have already started working on it.

Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, Co-Founder and CMO of Gilt, an online trading store for finding designer clothes and accessories for women, says “Mobile commerce is critical to success” on her interview with Anthea Tsoukalas of The Fashion Group International of Toronto

How dependent are people on mobiles when it comes to shopping?

Mobile phones, especially smartphones have become a part of almost everybody’s life and the dependency on this device has resulted in a significant change in the way web store owners are approaching their customers.

The exponential increase in the usage of mobile phones has resulted in the increase in the number of apps of different kinds as well. Mobile apps now serve as the best tools to automate certain processes, retrieve information or simplify a lengthy task.

Most of the users make use of mobiles to do a quick research before making a direct visit to the store or before shopping in a web store. Consumers also make use of mobile phones to compare products, find store locations, obtain product information, check availability, find discounts, and user reviews on the product which they have decided to buy.

As a proof for the above discussed, we would like to bring you a statistical survey. Retailnet group (RNG), in its study, has revealed the percentage in which shoppers use their mobile phones before making a purchase decision. The figures are as follows:

Coupons – Rescue resources for Ecommerce store owners

Considering the above mentioned facts, mobiles, for sure, play a crucial role in connecting merchants to their consumers anywhere, anytime as people carry mobile phones along with them almost all the time. This fact will help Estore owners in reaching out to the millions and widen their business verticals.

At the same time, using mobile phones for shopping also has some serious negative effects on merchants. The ready-made access to review sites and quick options to compare best prices and products will help customers to jump from one store to another in no time.

Online retailers can overcome this issue by offering deals for customers. These deal sites acts as middle-men between the consumers and merchants. Consumers who download the daily deals application will receive offers and discounts from the stores which are closely located to their living space.

Check out the daily deals mechanism here

These deals have more chances of yielding dollars as these are generated for a consumer based on the analysis made on her/his browsing histories, shopping wish-lists etc. Thus the deals proposed are more relevant to the requirements and taste of the consumers and the possibility of them taking up the deal are becomes high.

Mobility’s influences in other sectors

Banking:

The usage of mobiles have not only influenced the online retail market, but also various other sectors that are part of day-to-day life. For instance banking is one of the first and foremost sectors which taught the basics of how to use internet for payment transactions to millions of those who are now called as internet-dependent shoppers.

The dependency on direct bank visits has reduced to a greater extent as most of the transactions including bill payments and withdrawals are being done online having mobile phones as the medium. Banks have started developing their own mobile apps, which makes online account management easy for their customers.

Travel:

The rise in competition between the travel service providers in providing easy-to-use ticketing and booking services has given rise to major developments in mobile-enabled travel services. Most of the ticketing services be it bus, train or flight (both government and private) are now available in the fingertips of the users in the form of mobile applications.

NFC – Payment security redefined

The contribution of Near-Field-Communication will emerge as the future of the code as far as the payment methods of shopping is concerned and will be a major step ahead in ensuring safety of shoppers’ money.

NFC enables short distance communication between two mobile devices and devices embedded with NFC chips. Customers can make their payments just by waving their mobile phone near NFC equipped point-of-sale equipment thus reducing the need for any contact during the check out process.

Future of Ecommerce

Mobiles have become an integral part of store and online shopping and the number is rapidly increasing with every single day. So, optimizing Ecommerce stores to the mobile space and enhancing user experience can help you to drive traffic to your Ecommerce store and are considered to be the future of Ecommerce.

If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful, says Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon. Developing store-specific or merchant-specific mobile applications can help you to provide better shopping experience for customers. Analysis on users’ shopping behavior and predictions based on it will help Ecommerce business runners to come out with mobile solutions that will suit the needs of online shoppers in a much better way. Targeted marketing strategies, providing safe and secured payment transactions and welcoming new technologies to build futuristic solutions are the other factors which will play a major role in the future of Ecommerce.