Mobile Commerce Preferred by Multichannel Retailers

The year 2012 is set to be dominated by mobile commerce as far as multichannel retailers in the UK are concerned. They expect more customers to use mobile devices such as iOS products to shop. Retailers have also found that the conversion rate is higher for mobile users as is the value of the purchase made. With consumers becoming more comfortable using mobile devices to shop, the value and volume of mobile commerce is expected to go up.

The retailers will use social media such as Facebook to interact with and engage customers, more as a marketing channel not as a sales outlet. Jonathon Brown, the head of online at John Lewis, said the department store chain did not have any plans of opening commercial outlets on social networks.

Dan Lumb, the ecommerce director at Reiss said, “Mobile is good for traffic, and mobile users convert quite well.” He added that iOS devices accounted for about 20 percent of its web traffic.

The figures released by trade body IMRG in its e-Retail Sales Index support this contention. This index has been compiled in collaboration with Capgemini. Shoppers in the UK spend 7.9 billion pounds online in December 2011 a 16.5 percent hike over the same period the previous year. In 2011, UK shoppers spend 68 billion pounds making online purchases. As shoppers experience the advantages of mobile commerce they are likely to increase the number of purchases they make using their smartphones and tablets.

Capgemini’s head of retail consulting, Chris Webster, said, “During 2011 we saw continued pressure on sales as shoppers became savvier in looking for bargains and this continued in the run up to Christmas. The rapid rise of mobile in 2011 will continue into 2012 as consumers became familiar with shopping via tablet devices and smartphones, some taking advantage of their Christmas presents.”

Source: New Media Age