As ‘Cyber Monday,’ the busiest online shopping day before Christmas came and went on Monday 5 December, 12% of the £13.4billion expected to be spent on line this yuletide came via mobile, according to the Centre for Retail Research.
This year is the first year that mobile payments have gone mainstream; from zero to billions in 12 months. As a result of this growth, projected growth for next year is still high. As such, retailers need to recognise the benefits in having a solid m-commerce strategy for 2012.
The figures released by the Centre for Retail Research come as no surprise, as mobile payments have been growing in popularity this year. Over the last 12 months, people have got a lot more trusting when it comes to shopping on their mobile phones, but satisfaction with mobile websites still remains low.
Recent research commissioned by Stibo Systems found that only 27 per cent of consumers were satisfied with their mobile retail experience. This presents a huge opportunity for retailers to launch transactional shopping apps and easy to navigate websites, as demand for mobile shopping is clearly there.
Simon Walker, Director of Product Management at strategic information management company Stibo Systems, explains: “The retailers that will stand to gain the most this Christmas are the ones with simple, easy to navigate transactional mobile stores. The advantages for mobile shopping are numerous; it is convenient, can be done while travelling or on the go, sometimes incorporates location-based offers and is often just as fast as using a computer. While mobile retail stores can be useful for checking things such as stock levels, value also lies in detailed product information. The retail websites with the most detailed product information, such as images, videos, specifications etc will no doubt be the ones seeing most purchases. Many retailers are no longer competing on price alone. A great mobile store, filled with detailed product information and rich content will hold a retailer in good stead to get their slice of the £13.4bn.”
