IT in retail 2: Mobile commerce matures

Mobiles are the weapon of choice when it comes to internet access for young consumers, ergo m-commerce is booming. Or is it? The statistics paint a more sober picture.

A study by specialist retail analyst outfit Verdict last year showed that 2.1 per cent of adults were shopping on their mobiles. The firm estimates that in 2009, internet shopping sales via mobiles was worth just £122.9m, a measly 0.6 per cent of the £21.2bn total online retail spending. Even by 2013, mobile won’t be a significant channel even though it will double to £275m, say Verdict’s crystal ball-gazers.

However, the value of transactions may be low, but mobile should still be an
integral part of any retailer’s multi-channel arsenal.

Rather than purchase, Verdict reckons consumers are using mobiles to compare prices, research products and reviews and interact with retailers on the hoof.

Indeed, Verdict’s consumer research revealed that 11.5 per cent of UK shoppers use their mobiles to research before shopping in this way.

“For now, we believe the true potential for m-commerce is to provide consumers with a valuable tool for research, comparison shopping and retailer interaction,” says Malcolm Pinkerton, senior analyst at Verdict.

Retailers are urged to get in early and experiment with SMS- and location-based vouchers and related social media activities. However, they should look at mobile primarily as a means of supporting customer interaction and sales in other channels rather than as a primary channel in its own right.

“The opportunities are there for the most proficient multichannel retailers to claim a share of the growing cross-channel expenditure by exploiting the possibilities provided by mobiles to seamlessly link the online and in-store environments,” says Christine Bardwell, senior retail technology analyst at research firm Ovum.

App versus mobile-optimised

The most important platforms for mobile retail are clearly Android, Apple and Win7/Nokia.
There is debate over whether it is better to develop a mobile retail app for each of the platforms or to cover all bases with a site optimised for mobile access.
Fashion retailer French Connection says its app is “like flicking the pages of a glossy magazine”. But a notional cool factor shouldn’t distract from the business of serving customers. Recent studies from Orange in Europe and Adobe in the US both concluded that users prefer to use mobile browsers than apps.

“If there’s not a clear business case for a native app that really exploits features such as location, real-time data or rich interaction, then a mobile-optimised site is better, particularly given that the market reach is larger and entry costs potentially lower,” says Peter Gough, founding partner of ORM, a digital design agency.

“An app like the location-based one from North Face, that allows users to find their nearest hike and nearest store, gives customers extra functionality, but an app that offers the same services as a mobile website is unnecessary,” he adds.

However, apps are good for a specific purpose, such as banking or booking tickets, but need to be simple: people don’t want to type much on a mobile, so make access and navigation gesture- or cursor-driven.

“The two should not be in conflict, but complement each other,” says Tim Norman, director at SDL Web Content Management Solutions. “It depends on what purpose you want to serve. Mobile websites can feel just as cool as apps.”

It also means being realistic about your brand: will consumers return automatically – in which case an app may be appropriate ­– or will they find it through browsing?

App and mobile site

So how about both app and mobile site? Hybrids combine a value-added skinny app that overlays a mobile-optimised site.

The choice shouldn’t exclude parts of the audience and, remember, any strategy needs to take into account developments such as near-field communications (NFC) technology for contactless payments, augmented reality, barcodes, QR codes and whatever else the mobile world has up its sleeve next.

Source: http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/feature/2110834/retail-mobile-commerce-matures by Andrew Charlesworth on 21st September 2011.

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