4 Significant Mobile Commerce Trends and Why They Matter

February 23, 2018 - 11 minutes read

A guide to mobile marketing insights and why they’re important to your business

“If your plans don’t include mobile, your plans are not finished.” – Wendy Clarke, Coca-Cola

eCommerce has been of vital importance to businesses of all shapes and sizes for some years now, forming a core part of the digital revolution and how we as humans interact with the world around us. And mCommerce is the next stage of that journey.

Mobile commerce is critical to building brand awareness and expanding your customer base and as such, it should form an important part of your digital marketing strategy.

There’s no use denying it: we are living in a mobile world. In fact, the projected transaction value of global mCommerce sales in 2019 is expected to rise to the $693.39 billion mark.

Today’s consumer, particularly millennials and budding digital natives, like to consume content, conduct research, share their thoughts, feelings, and opinions, and make essential buying decisions anytime, anyplace, anywhere. That said, if you’re unable to deliver a user-friendly mobile experience to your target audience, as a retailer, you can kiss your commercial growth goodbye.

All areas of digital marketing are essential, but, without placing a strong focus on your mCommerce efforts, not only do you stand to lose out on incredibly valuable repeat custom, but you could also get left behind by your competitors.To help you tap into today’s mobile mentality and win on the mobile commerce business, we’re going to explore four essential mCommerce trends you need to know about in 2018, the kind of which that will help you grow your customer base and boost your sales exponentially.

Evolved chatbots and mobile messengers

“In today’s modern world, people are either asleep or connected.” – Janice H. Reinold, Rosetta Marketing

 

According to a recent report, mCommerce is outpacing both eCommerce and brick and mortar sales quite significantly – and some of this success boils down to the undeniable convenience of mobile devices.

In a bid to make their mCommerce offerings even more convenient, brands including Nordstrom, Starbucks, and H&M are all looking to invest in mobile-specific chatbots and automated messengers this year.

A recent survey from eMarketer suggests that 54.4% of today’s social media users prefer messenger apps to converse with brands over email, phone calls, or the traditional online chat format – a clear catalyst for the adoption of mobile chatbots this year, and beyond.

ChatBots and mobile seem to go hand in hand as together, they possess the ability to reach customers and respond to shopper requests in real-time, as well as learn from previous transactions to help offer an increasingly personalized shopping experience.

What’s more, chatbots integrate with the likes of Facebook Messenger and Skype so there is little need to install a native app to run them.

With 57% of consumers confirming an interested in chatbots for their instantaneity, 2018 might be the year to integrate chatbots into your mCommerce strategy.

Augmented reality

“Virtual reality and augmented reality will change the way we shop.” – Michio Kaku, Theoretical Physicist

In 2018, the rise of augmented reality, or AR as its also known, will make its mark on the world of mCommerce, dominating the industry in a big way.

This year, a host of retailers are expected to integrate AR into their physical stores, a move that will most definitely enhance the consumer shopping experience.

But much of the expected spike in AR adoption will be driven by mobile, with specialized brand apps providing a more immersive, intuitive and personal user experience than ever before.

One of the pioneers of mobile-based AR is Swedish flat pack empire, IKEA. In September 2016, the brand launched an app called IKEA Place that uses Apple’s iOS 11 ARKit technology. This immersive app gives shoppers the power to place furniture in their rooms virtually to see how it will match up with the existing decoration.

Take a look at it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jrhw_ZRjV4 (this is the video URL)

<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/4jrhw_ZRjV4″ frameborder=”0″ allow=”autoplay; encrypted-media” allowfullscreen></iframe> (this is the video’s embed code)

IKEA recorded a healthy €35 billion in sales in 2016, citing their AR app as a significant milestone toward its digital transformation journey.

In this day and age, consumers crave an experience tailored to their personal wants and needs and when it comes to mobile marketing, the AR app fits into this mentality like a glove.

Single click payments

’”If you’re not using mobile marketing to attract new customers to your business, don’t worry — your competitors are already using it and are getting those customers instead.” – Jamie Turner, 60SecondMarketer.com

As mentioned, the contemporary consumer values speed and convenience in their shopping experience. If a mobile user comes across a sluggish, poorly optimized checkout journey, chances are they will bounce off the page immediately.

Enter: the one-click payment option in all its mobile glory.

Now, Amazon once led the pack with its One-Click checkout functionality – and its patent meant the company was able to place a monopoly on the feature, stopping others from launching it on their sites. But the good news is, it expired last year.

So, what does this mean? Well, you, like many thriving digital retailers have now gained the ability to use the single-click payment option to your advantage. This exciting development will enhance the mCommerce user experience on a global scale, thrusting its growth to new and previously unexpected heights.

More than 1.2 billion people use their smartphone to access the internet daily. If you make it easy for even a portion of these mobile users to purchase from your mobile site, your conversion rates are likely to rise before your very eyes.

Even if you don’t wish to offer a single-click payment option, there are a host of ways you can enhance the design of your mobile site and streamline your shopping journey. Take the time to focus on the dynamics of your mobile checkout, and you will see a healthy return on investment.

Voice search rising

“Alexa is primarily about identifying tasks in the household that would be improved by voice.” – Jeff Bezos, Amazon

 

We are living in an age of the voice-driven virtual assistant. In 2016 alone, Google reported that 20% of mobile queries comes from voice searchers, and that number is expected to rise significantly as the year rolls on.

As the likes of Amazon’s Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomePod become more commonplace in the modern home, voice search will become almost instinctual for most mobile shoppers, meaning that if you provide a solid voice-driven offering, increased success is extremely likely.

One notable brand that has been leading the way regarding voice search is The North Face.

By integrating natural language processing and voice-enabled search into its eCommerce and mCommerce strategy, enhancing the search functionality across its desktop and mobile websites, the brand recently reported a 35% boost in search conversion rate and a 24% boost in revenue from search.

Due to smaller keyboards and a definitive familiarity of speaking with their smartphones, voice-enabled search functions on mobile-optimized websites are set to rise this year – and if the success of The North Face is anything to go by, adding voice search functionality to your mobile HQ is an essential ingredient to success.

As of August 2017, there was an excess of 3.5 billion unique mobile internet users. Now that is no small number.

Mobile is here to stay and for those that take the time to understand the playing field, create an innovative mCommerce strategy early on and ultimately, give the people what they want, will be the ones who emerge victorious today, tomorrow, and long into the future.

We hope these four significant mCommerce marketing developments have given you an insight into the measures you need to take in order to ensure success. For more sales boosting pearls of wisdom, read our eCommerce guide to driving revenue through email.

SOURCES:

Source to the featured image display on the index of the blog

https://socialnomics.net/2018/02/08/5-mobile-commerce-trends-to-rule-in-2018/

http://uk.businessinsider.com/mobile-commerce-shopping-trends-stats-2016-10

https://thenextweb.com/contributors/2017/08/30/5-trends-changing-face-m-commerce/

https://www.invespcro.com/blog/mobile-commerce/

https://searchengineland.com/google-reveals-20-percent-queries-voice-queries-249917