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Written by Professional Academy Guest Blogger Sean Cleary
Mobile commerce, known as m-commerce, is the process of buying goods or services online through a wireless mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet. M-commerce has quickly revolutionised the ecommerce market to the point where any business not investing in it is falling behind the curve.
Considering the number of people currently using mobile devices, it makes sense that business need to accommodate their shopping habits through mobile commerce.
Signal-boosters.co.uk have shown that 62% of smartphone users have made a purchase online using their devices within the last 6 months. The number of retailers buying through mobile devices is continually rising, so businesses must be ready to accommodate these newer habits to maximise profits and reach as many customers as possible.
Here are eight key benefits that m-commerce for business:
Customers can use mobile applications to quickly access their preferred retail stores, offering one of the fastest shopping experiences to date.
There’s no need to travel to a store while mobile apps and websites are generally much quicker desktop sites, saving the customer time and effort that is invaluable to the modern consumer. There are few things more convienent than having access to online shopping the tip of your fingers.
Mobile applications typically offer a better user experience for customers. They’re optimised to offer a fast and streamlined shopping experience that is easy to navigate and only requires a few clicks, making sales and leads easier to achieve as the consumer has a much more enjoyable experience compared to other methods.
M-commerce platforms offer a new marketing channel that should be taken advantage of. For instance, with a mobile application you have a direct connection to end users, giving an invaluable marketing channel where you can sell products directly to the consumer via their mobile device.
From push notifications with the latest deals to creating a newsfeed with information above the latest products and prices, there are various tailor-made marketing functions available on m-commerce platforms that allow you to better target customers.
In general, most mobile applications are faster than a traditional website, meaning m-commerce offers faster transactions for your customers. Time is money in the world of e-commerce, so giving customers the chance to buy things quicker than normal can be very lucrative.
Quicker browsing and a better user experience have resulted in a massive surge in online sales through mobile devices - it’s a huge benefit of m-commerce and one of the driving forces behind its growth.
M-commerce doesn’t just benefit online sales but also in-store sales. This is because consumers are using their mobile devices to check products they browse in store, looking for things like product reviews, pricing options, and whether nearby stores have certain items in stock.
With the right m-commerce platform, businesses can expect to drive sales both in-store and online, ensuring they’re accommodating a wider market.
Using a mobile app to connect to customers quickly can save money on marketing campaigns with less impressive results. Better still, social media integration can further reduce social media marketing costs, utilising customers to help spread the brand.
Moreover, the costs of developing and maintaining an application are typically much lower compared to other e-commerce platforms, saving more money and freeing up resources. For example, an app often costs as little as 20% of it’s development price to operate.
Reducing the costs and manpower needed to operate marketing campaigns is a huge benefit that m-commerce offers retailers.
The great thing about ecommerce is that you can always target new customers. Anyone that comes across the website may be converted into a sale, and this is no different with m-commerce platforms.
People are using their phones to search online these days, so with a mobile optimised site you can increase the likelihood of attracting new customers.
M-commerce functions such as mobile re-targeting also help in this regard, allowing retailers to target adverts at customers visiting their website. There are several tools available in m-commerce that allow business to continue to attract new customers, so businesses should be taking full advantage of these to increase sales and leads.
M-commerce platforms such as mobile applications provide businesses with insightful analytics that let them better target their customers and increase sales. Data such as name, sex, location, email, buying history can be easily gathered with user-analytics integrated into the mobile software, although to what degree depends on your budget and the overall quality of the application.
There are different analytic tools available through m-commerce platforms that give businesses invaluable data to understand and target their users. This same level of data and analytics isn’t as easy to gather on other e-commerce platforms, highlighting just how beneficial m-commerce is for the modern-day retailer.
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