M-Commerce or Mobile commerce is
one of the game changing trends available to shoppers around the globe today.
M-Commerce , a terminology coined by Kevin Duffy In 1997 is a way to shop with
one’s mobile gadget to access various online markets that sell goods and
services. This not only makes buying easy but also makes selling easier and
gives an opportunity for e-commerce sellers to position their products to global
consumers at the click of a button.
Mobile e-commerce sales in India is
expected to hit nearly 38 billion USD by 2020, as published by the Statista
Research Department and this stupendous growth is attributed to the growth and explosion
of smartphone and mobile phones market as well as the internet industry. Based
on insights from Datareportal , it is to be noted that more than 400 million
people across South East Asia use internet actively. Global retail e-commerce
sales are projected to reach $27 trillion by 2020. e27 reported that Indonesia,
Thailand and Philippines are among the top five countries in the world that
rely on M-Commerce for purchasing.
Why M-Commerce?
The reasons why M-commerce is
being preferred by today’s millennia’s is due to convenience of use. A decade
ago, one had to take the effort of physically going to a store to purchase a
product and yet this would limit their choices to a few brands based on the
location of purchase. Today, the digital world is highly inter-connected, giving
everyone access to products that are sold globally at the convenience of their home,
that too at the click of a mouse. To add to this, today’s sellers give their
customers a chance to return or replace the sold items with minimal or no added
costs. This makes buying online through mobile apps the most preferred option. Another
advantage of mobile commerce is "location tracking". Due to the portability
of the mobile devices that track the user’s locations through navigation satellites, Wi-Fi, GPS(Global Positioning System) etc ,
sellers can provide location specific content and personalized recommendations to shoppers thereby improving their shopping experience.
What is different today?
Although some sections of the
buyers feel that mobile apps do not give them the touch and feel of the
product, most sellers today are overruling this concern by interfacing AI
technology on selling platforms, thereby eliciting the buyers interest, most shopped items and
their preferred choices. Some mobile applications also embed video graphics and
picture technology. This gives the consumer a closer to life view of the
product thereby making him to understand the quality and the exact feature of the
product as if he shopped in real time.
What is the risk?
While most mobile based applications
and selling platforms are genuine, there are a few fraudulent sites that create concern to the buyers while shopping on M-Commerce
platforms. There have been reports of electronic crime such as sales scams, account theft and breach of personal information through some of these online interfaces. Predictably, as in every
industry, the risks related to M-Commerce are also increasing. Unless used with
caution, online shopping could turn into a nightmare for its users due to
security dodges. A study by Worldpay has reported that the most common types of M-Commerce fraud notably are identity
theft (71%), phishing (66%) and account theft (63%).
Despite the
associated risks, we still see a continuous spike in the M-commerce
trends. This is because of several trusted suites like www.sellinall.com which provide a fully secure and integrated
platform for e-commerce sellers to sell their products online. SELLinALL’s
multi-channel e-commerce cloud based platform provides access to sellers to host
their products online thereby providing reach to millions of online shoppers
around the world to shop for their favorite products with ease. It has
automated a feedback mechanism which sends messages to buyers to stay on top of
their orders from all e-commerce channels. SELLinALL’s secure mobile application
can be downloaded from play store by accessing the link - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sellinall.sellers&hl=en
M-commerce trend is steadily
growing, given that 49% of the consumers use their smartphones to shop
globally. The Global mobile retail revenue is expected to touch 3.56 billion USD by 2021
and this is a huge sign for e-commerce sellers. A lot of focus needs to be
embarked on building robust and user friendly M-commerce applications that
facilitate wider reach and saves time for busy shoppers. Besides, one also has
to also make sure to provide outstanding customer service to ensure that the
experience is rounded and complete.
References