Mobile Commerce set to be the Next Wave of Mobile Growth

Mobile is rapidly becoming the primary device for many activities around the world.

Recently Google reported that more searches are now taking place on mobile devices than on desktops. Clearly this shows a massive shift in the way users are interacting with digital data. Mobile is no longer on the fringes and something businesses need to talk about doing.

Mobile is here and it is now a way of life. From search to email, mobile should be many businesses’ primary consideration when preparing for customer interactions. Fact of the matter is that users interact with data differently via mobile devices and if you are trying to use a shoehorn to squeeze your web site into mobile devices you will most likely have disappointing results.

As the mobile application development market has grown and evolved we have found that it is as much about building for customer behavior as it is building for smaller screens. Before you talk to your iPhone application developer or Android application developer, make sure you take the time to understand your customers.

Over the past few years we are finding that it is the customers themselves that are causing businesses to re-explore the notion of the purchasing process to meet their needs. Savvy businesses are taking the time to understand customer behavior and are adjusting for that behavior.

These days a visit to the showroom floor is just as likely to be for research as making a purchase. You will find the purchase journey often started days ago with a customer reading reviews on their smartphone while commuting to work. Mobile has become integrated with the purchase process.

By understanding customer behavior you can provide the tools your customers are looking for to improve the purchase process and increase likelihood of making sales.

Mobile commerce is growing rapidly as the market matures and it is set to be the next wave of growth within mobile. Remember that within the new shopping paradigm, a customer may not buy a product until days after seeing it on a showroom floor or they may want to buy it while reading reviews on their smartphone. You must present a unified experience that inspires confidence whether a customers is standing in your store or set to buy products from their smart phone.

Smart phones have become deeply integrated with our lives and can augment almost any activity we engage in. Brands that understand this can develop mobile applications to compliment their customers’ lives.

One of the greatest advantages of mobile is its ability to respond to a user’s contextual information. Delivering specials or other relevant information when a user is near one of your physical locations can be useful and desirable for you users, many who are willing to opt in to notifications and data programs to improve the quality of their experience. The opportunities for improving the quality of your messaging are endless if you work toward improving user experiences.

Photo: Incase (Flikr) http://bit.ly/1B9FnXQ