How to Prepare for the Rise in M-Commerce

According to Statista, the average American uses their smartphone for almost 5 hours each day to socialize, scroll, and shop.¹ But this isn’t a new trend. Mobile usage has grown exponentially over the past few years.  

Not surprisingly, this has caused mobile commerce to rise sharply as well. In fact, m-commerce is expected to account for more than 72% of all eCommerce sales by the end of 2021.²  

What does that mean for retailers and eCommerce brands? That it’s time to get your online stores prepared for the increasing demand in mobile eCommerce shopping.  

What is M-Commerce? 

Mobile commerce (or m-commerce) is a form of online shopping that consumers do from their smartphones. Using their devices, they can browse product pages and eCommerce apps to find products they like. And once they’ve picked out an item, they can purchase it directly from their phone, using a credit card or payment service like PayPal or Venmo.  

However, because mobile habits change much faster than desktop habits, offering a mobile shopping experience takes more than a mobile-friendly website or eCommerce app.  

Let’s look at 4 features you should embrace in 2021 to fully take advantage of the m-commerce trend. 

One-Click Purchases 

Your repeat customers don’t want to enter their information every time they make a purchase — especially if they buy from you often. Besides being tedious, it can also be incredibly difficult to do on a mobile device.  

One way you can remove friction for your mobile shoppers is by offering a one-click purchase option. Customers who are logged in will be able to make purchases with a single tap or swipe, and your fulfillment teams can automatically pull relevant details (like addresses and billing info) from your customers’ profiles.  

 eWallets 

More and more customers are switching from physical credit cards to digital ones via services like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Amazon Pay. But while brick-and-mortar stores are implementing technology that can scan these digital wallets with a single tap, not all eCommerce stores have made the same adjustment.  

By expanding your payment options to accept customers’ electronic payments, you open the door to customers who otherwise wouldn’t buy from you. This means more opportunities for sales and a more convenient shopping experience for your customers.  

Augmented Reality 

When shoppers buy a product for the first time, they take a risk. After all, there’s no way to know for sure what the size, color, and design will look like until the product arrives.  

Fortunately, most of the time, this won’t deter consumers from purchasing your products. But when the item comes with a large price tag, it can.  

Using cutting-edge augmented reality technology, you can give your shoppers a preview of your products before they ever make a purchase. They can see how a product might look in their homes or yards and make more educated decisions about sizing.  

This benefits shoppers during their initial purchase and also means fewer product returns for your fulfillment teams to handle.  

Omnichannel Shopping 

Even if your customers prefer to do the bulk of their shopping from their mobile devices, they may spend time on their desktops when conducting product research. They may also visit your mobile site while walking the aisles of your stores.  

By building your mobile eCommerce website or app into your omnichannel experience, you can help your shoppers seamlessly shift from your website or physical retail locations to their mobile devices. This means they can continue their shopping no matter what channel they come from or how many devices they’ve used.  

With mobile commerce on the rise, it’s critical for retailers and eCommerce businesses to make changes to their shopping experience. Thankfully, there are a lot of ways to do so. From one-click purchases, eWallets, and augmented reality to omnichannel, you can successfully optimize your eCommerce site for your mobile customers. 

Sources:

¹ “Average time spent daily on a smartphone in the United States 2021,” Statista, July 2021 
² “65 Wowing M-Commerce Statistics for 2021,” Techjury, August 2021