Nowadays, mobility is a common attribute of society. Everyone is able to perform almost any type of activity, whether for business or daily interests, all remotely via a tablet or phone. No wonder mobile shopping has become the regular part of our lives within such a short span of time.
Every year, more and more people prefer to order products from their home, office, or any other convenient location online, instead of visiting a physical store and carrying these goods on their own. Some go as far as identifying themselves a “mobile generation”.
Mobile commerce is a concept developed within an eсommerce framework with the aim of increasing retailing coverage and capabilities. It ensures the process of purchasing goods online through mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) and can be even considered as an evolution of eсommerce. Mcommerce furthers the online shopping accessibility, so, various e-shops are fast to use a rapidly developing technology.
Mcommerce May be the Next Big Thing
According to statistics, 19% of all US eCommerce sales are accounted for by mobile devices, and this percentage is estimated to increase by 28% until the end of 2018. The average conversion rate on tablets and smartphones will comprise of 1.54% and 0.55% respectively.
The growing number of online customers are likely to cause significant difficulties in sales and traffic boosts for retailers who don’t have responsive design websites or dedicated mobile apps. Almost 40% of all transactions conducted through retailer websites are stated to be completed using multiple devices (which nearly always involves mobile phones and tablets). It was precisely for that reason business giants like Walmart and Starbucks developed their mobile apps a number of years ago.
The figures, as well as predictions, clearly indicate that technology has become ever more popular and usability has improved greatly for mobile devices. Optimizing mcommerce can be a game changer for your digital business, and there are several ultimate reasons why.
SEO Benefits for Mcommerce
Just last year, mobile-first indexing took place within Google’s search engine. Considering the fact that SEO is one of the most important aspects of a thriving ecommerce website, the extended and well-optimised mobile functionality might be crucial to your business success. However, mcommerce has an additional task to handle – mobile SEO. This can increase your app store pages ranking, but that’s not all. You can also use app indexation tags, letting users download the dedicated app straight from the search results (like Uber has done), or assign the URL schemes within deep app pages, etc.
Mobile Search Experience
Mcommerce pays particular attention to a search box.
Convenient on-site search options helps users find the desired product easily, avoiding the need to scroll through the pile of irrelevant pages.
Moreover, mcommerce allows personalizing search options based on user’s location and timezone. Also, a proper up-to-date mobile page provides users with voice search option, autofill option, and correcting typing errors.
Such giants as Etsy and Walgreens provide promos right inside the search box and suggest product alternatives if the required item is not found, instead of redirecting a user to a dead-end webpage.
Physical store benefits
Thanks to the advanced modules in smartphones and ability to connect the internet, mcommerce is not limited with just the on-screen capabilities.
The owner of a physical store can use mcommerce to provide customers with the ability to look up information about a certain product online and view the assortment live. This can also turn your smartphone into a form of sales channel – let’s take iBeacons as an example. It’s a class of Bluetooth devices that are placed on the walls and shelves inside a store for broadcasting ads to nearby portable mobile devices. Thus, if a customer has the instilled app they would receive a message with promotions or recommendations after entering the store.
Time-efficiency
If customers decide to make a purchase directly through an app, it will take them on average 150% less time as opposed to using the desktop version. Apps don’t need to receive much data from the server, so the process goes ultimately faster and a better experience.
Mobile browsing tends to be intuitive, more than any other analogue. Simple user-interface motivates a customer to make repeat purchases. Amazon’s retail app provoked increasing sales and extended the customer-base from 43 million to 67 million.
Push notifications
Push notifications are astoundingly more effective than emails. They are instant and difficult to ignore when popping-up on a phone screen. This feature can motivate the customers to be more loyal and provide one more level of engagement.
A digital mall Wanelo is a good example. Their app sends push notifications with eye-catching emojis, which motivates a user to visit the website.
Conclusions
Mobile commerce is in the state of active growth and development currently, but we can already use its various benefits for successful business management.
To summarize, please check the list of main mcommerce advantages:
- Rapid purchasing process
- Extensive accessibility
- SEO benefits (current as well as prospective)
- Mobile SEO benefits
- Accessible and (occasionally) personalized search
- Voice search option
- Autofill option
- Additions to physical stores
- AR additions
- Assortment view
- Smart beacons
- Push notifications
- Shipment tracking
- Сustomer experience improvement
About the Authors
Petro Borysov
Content writer at OpsWay.com
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