AdaptiveMobile Blogs

17th June 2008    Current rating: 

According to the US division of Nielson Research, mobile ecommerce is up with a reported 9 million U.S. mobile subscribers having used their mobile phone to purchase goods or services. In looking at data cited by ePaynews, it’s an area of mobile that has seen tremendous growth worldwide since 2000.

But where are consumers actually making these mobile purchases? For some, mobile shopping may conjure up an image of a diehard QVC viewer merely moving from his or her landline to her wireless phone.

But in reality, mobile ecommerce is extremely innovative. Just look at what a Cisco study reveals::

  Currently, there are three times as many mobile-phone subscribers (3.3 billion) as Internet users (1.3 billion) worldwide. Cisco expects mobile commerce to follow an adoption pattern similar to that of cell phones. Early retail adopters are already finding ways to factor the mobile phone into multichannel service delivery. For the more basic mobile offering, retailers are using SMS (Short Message Service) to communicate promotions, provide a two-way service for customers' questions, and offer item availability and delivery updates. The Cisco IBSG survey found that:

• 42 percent of retailers provide the ability to view product information on a mobile device through reformatted web pages or specific mobile pages
• 15 percent offer the ability to conduct transactions (make purchases, complete inventory queries, etc.)
• 10 percent are using SMS to provide information or answers to customers' questions
• 6 percent have webpages and a URL specifically designed for mobile use

It’s all very exciting indeed! As this area of commerce continues to rise, so will the conveniences of storing data on mobile sites such as credit card information and other personal details, making it more important than ever that consumers protect their mobile devices.

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