In MEF’s report on mobile money it details how the worldwide growth in mobile payments adoption is strongly influencing consumer attitudes toward mCommerce in a positive manner. MEF’s report goes on to put the spotlight on the importance of mobile money users to the overall mCommerce market as mobile money users are 26% more likely to make purchases via mobile application or mobile web sites on mobile devices.
The report continues on to detail how mobile money users are more likely to make higher-value purchases via mobile devices.
Increasingly markets are seeing a rise in consumers who prefer not to use cash for purchases. Just as markets saw the rise of consumers who made payments via credit or debit cards, markets are now seeing growth in mobile money users and cash use is on the decline.
“With the growth of mCommerce,” says Kimber Johnson, Managing Director, Vanity Point, “we are seeing proactive businesses setting themselves apart from their competition by offering an additional level of convenience with mobile payment options.”
The latest study from Informa Telecoms & Media shows that retailers can no longer rely on just their in-store POS system for transactions. Retailers need to grow their systems to offer both traditional POS and mobile payment options to their customers. According to Informa, those that offer multiple payment options, including a mobile checkout option, will be able to serve more customers and reduce loss of sales due to shoppers’ desires to avoid standing in lines.
By using mobile POS options, including check out via mobile application, retailers can serve more customers during busy times and also issue paperless receipts to customers’ e-mail addresses. The evidence to the effectiveness of mobile checkout is growing rapidly. For instance, during the 2012 holiday season, Alex and Ani added mobile checkout in several of their US stores and saw an impressive 318% increase in sales just from transactions processed by associates utilizing mobile POS terminals.
Now is an exceptional time for retailers to update their systems. “Unlike a few years ago, many vendors are now offering mobile POS terminals and support services. These vendors are also offering attractive incentives to merchants and retailers to upgrade their old terminals with new mobile POS systems,” says Shailendra Pandey, a senior analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media and author of the report.
“With the growth of users’ expectations when it comes to service and usability, improving the check out process is a key way retailers meet their customers’ needs” states Kimber Johnson, Managing Director of Vanity Point Interactive Design. “We have entered an era where consumers are demanding more in physical locations based on the excellent experiences they are having on mobile applications or web sites.”
In a new survey conducted by BuzzCity, about half (47 percent) of all shoppers plan to shop online for holiday gifts this holiday season. Buzzcity also found from their study was that 59 percent of those who holiday shop online will also shop in the store as well. Retailers should understand that it is the combination of in-store and online shopping experiences that they should cater to for the modern shopper.
BuzzCity found that key concerns of consumers are product variety (33 percent) and for it to be easy to find those products (32 percent), whether consumers are online and in the store. These concerns come above finding discounts either in stores (24 percent) and online (14 percent).
Of particular note was that 20 percent of those surveyed stated that using their mobile device to find information in the store is quicker than asking a clerk or other sales staff. Clearly it is important for businesses to consider that shoppers could be viewing their mobile applications or mobile web site when on the show room floor and provide them with the necessary tools.
“When consumers shop, they can find all the product information they need just by pulling out their smartphone,” states Kimber Johnson, Managing Director, Vanity Point. “Smart retailers are making it easier and easier for shoppers to utilized a integrated shopping approach where they can augment their in the store experience with mobile tools.”