Mobile commerce, or mCommerce, is the buying and selling of goods or services through wireless handheld devices like cell phones or tablets.
The widespread adoption of mobile commerce has changed our lives in profound ways. Convenience is no longer a luxury. Thanks to the explosion of mobile commerce, you and I get desired items or services at our doorsteps without venturing out of our homes.
The digital buyer journey has been redefined as it incorporates location-based marketing. Many customers are using smartphones as their shopping assistants, which has increased local in-store shopping. Customers not only use their mobile devices to make purchases but also to check reviews, compare prices, and research products.
Why Is mCommerce Important?
Reachability: One of the most important reasons to think about mobile commerce is that, according to a study conducted by GSMA, more than 3 billion people use mobile devices globally. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, imagine how many customers you might be losing.
Mobility: With the help of a mobile device, a customer can shop anywhere, any time. This enables businesses to instantly reach their target audience. Applications like IKEA’s Augmented Reality App allow customers to view exactly how a piece of furniture would look and fit in their homes, elevating the customer experience.
Personalization: The more customized information you can present on a small screen, the more relevant that data is likely to be — sending deals for restaurants near a specific location, versus sending deals related to various locations, for example.
How to Make Your eCommerce Site Mobile-Friendly
Google research has found that 67% of users say they would be more likely to purchase a product or service from a business that builds a mobile-friendly website.
Here are 10 ways to make your website mobile-friendly:
Make your website responsive
Make sought-after information easy to find (avoid using tabs that people may scroll past)
Turn on auto-correct for forms
Make button sizes large enough to work on mobile
Use large font sizes
Compress images and CSS (be careful not to affect the quality of the images)
Don’t use Flash
Use YouTube videos
Don’t make users pinch to zoom
Perform mobile testing regularly
What About Apps?
A report by JMango shows the rising opportunities of app purchases: App users view 4.6 times more products or services, compared with mobile browsers, which indicates that apps are a way to increase the engagement of your most loyal customers.
Retailers who have a devoted application for their business can see huge reactions, with 58% of all portable income originating from the application.
Types of Mobile Apps
Native apps: These apps are developed exclusively for a single mobile operating system — they are “native” for a specific platform or gadget. Applications built for frameworks like iOS, Android, or Windows can’t be utilized on a platform other than their own.
Hybrid apps: These work across platforms but behave like native apps. A hybrid app is basically a combination of a native app and a web app. They are built using multi-platform web technologies, for instance, HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript.
Progressive web apps: These bring together the best of the web and the best of an app — users have an app-like experience within a browser, and installation is not required. For example, it loads quickly even if the network is poor and sends relevant push notifications at appropriate times.
The Next Big Thing
If you have an eCommerce site and see a large amount of traffic coming from mobile – don’t hesitate!
Schedule a call with our Mobile Development team today. Our web and mobile development services range from initial prototyping and wire-framing to full creation of responsive websites ready to serve tens of thousands of users every day. And we don’t stop there. Our post-launch support services include performance monitoring, application support, user experience refinement, conversion rate optimization, and more.
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