eCommerce

mCommerce

While consumer usage of mobile shopping is still relatively low, it is increasing, prompting firms such as Coda Research Consultancy to predict a doubling of m-commerce revenues in the US in 2010, to $2.4 billion.

There has also been a doubling in usage of mobile shopping, according to PriceGrabber.com's "Smartphone Shopping Behavior" survey. In April 2010, 35% of US Web-enabled mobile phone owners said they had participated in some form of mobile shopping in the past year, such as browsing or researching but not necessarily purchasing products. That was up from 17% who said the same in 2009. Still, only 13% actually made purchases via mobile, up from 10% last year.

Among all mobile users, there was a marked willingness to adopt more mobile shopping behaviours over the next two years (such as download apps, compare prices, purchase items and scan coupons) , though a significant portion of the population indicated they would never be interested in such activities.

Consumers' greater willingness to shop on the mobile channel rather than buy is supported by other research. Retrevo found in February 2010 that across all age groups internet users were at least three times as likely to research or compare prices on their phones as they were to make a purchase.

In Q9 2009, four times as many internet users surveyed by ATG said they researched or browsed via mobile at least weekly than bought.

Among the mobile buyers surveyed by PriceGrabber.com, the top purchases were of digital content for their phones and consumer electronics, with both categories increasing over last year. PriceGrabber found some of the barriers to further mobile buying were inherent to the medium, with respondents complaining that mobile screens were too small and saying that they simply preferred using a PC because it was easier. About a third of respondents also said the mobile buying process takes too long, and one-quarter indicated transactions were too difficult to complete. (eMarketer, June 2010)

Nearly 2/5 of US smartphone owners reported having bought something non-mobile over their mobile phone in the past six months, though many still report frustration with mobile site functionality, according to Q3 2009 data from Compete. And the top shopping-related smartphone activities are still research-based.

More than half of smartphone users checked out product descriptions, and many looks for reviews, coupons or better prices. About a third even bought the item on the mobile channel after seeing it in a store.

Android users said they would spend the most via mobile, followed by iPhone owners. Smartphone users with Windows, BlackBerry or Palm devices had similar, lower spending thresholds.

Usage of m-commerce features among smartphone users is higher than among all mobile subscribers. Deloitte found that 15% of US mobile users purchased products via mobile at least occasionally in 2009. The researcher also found that about a fifth of mobile users planned to use their phone for shopping activities this past holiday season. (eMarketer, January 2010)

Despite retailers' efforts and consumer concerns about the difficulties of mobile shopping, consumers are willing to make some purchases via mobile phone. Items that appeal to on-the-go consumers in the US and involve small amounts of money, such as pizza (59%) and movie/event tickets (58%) are at the top of the list, according to a Billing Revolution survey conducted by Harris Interactive. Hotel rooms (43%) and tickets for travel (40%) stood in 3^rd and 6^th place respectively.

Selected purchases that US consumers are willing to make via mobile phone, April-May 2009 (% of respondents):
- Pizza: 59%
- Movie/event tickets: 58%
- Hotel rooms: 43%
- Fast food: 42%
- Music: 41%
- Tickets for travel: 40%
- Games: 34%
- Coffee: 25%
- Mobile video/TV content: 24%

Some early m-commerce adopters have used their mobile phones to buy higher-consideration goods such as consumer electronics, apparel and jewellery, according to a March 2009 PriceGrabber.com survey.

More than 70 million US mobile phone users will access the internet from their device in 2009, according to eMarketer. And a number of recognized retail brands have launched mobile commerce programs so they can be where their customers go. Nevertheless, mobile commerce is still immature. Web-enabled mobile phone users are much more likely to employ their devices to get weather forecasts, read news, find movie times and bank online than to buy products. Retailers cite capital constraints (44.4%) and issues with consumer privacy (26.7%) and security (26.7%) as the biggest obstacles standing in the way of further m-commerce efforts, according to an April 2009 survey by RIS News. (eMarketer, September 2009)

Only 9.2 million US mobile subscribers purchased goods or services with their handset, according to a 2008 Nielsen Mobile poll. This is a low figure when compared with a JPMorgan projection of 233 million total subscribers. Even lower next to eMarketer's estimate of 270 million US mobile phone subscribers in 2008.

In fact, an Internet Retailer survey found that only 7% of online retailers had an m-commerce site in late 2008. Still, consumers are at least starting to grow comfortable with the idea of m-commerce. 71% of US adults felt that it was safe to make a purchase via their mobile phone, according to a poll conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Billing Revolution.

However, there is little consensus on what people are willing to buy on their "fairly safe" mobile devices.

In the Harris poll, 59% of respondents said they were willing to purchase pizza over a mobile phone; 58% said movie and event tickets, followed by hotel rooms (43%), fast food (42%), music (41%) and travel tickets (40%).

On the other hand, PriceGrabber.com research found that the most popular mobile purchases were digital mobile content such as ringtones and music, followed by consumer electronics, computers and related equipment, books, apparel and jewelry. (eMarketer, June 2009)