HOT TOPIC: M-Commerce – Now, Next Year or Never?

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What should Australian online retailers be considering right now to future proof their businesses for m-commerce, and when (if ever) will the predicted mobile shopping stampede occur?

There’s plenty of hype permeating the digital community about mobile commerce, but is it the next big thing in retail? The facts are that smartphones will outnumber conventional phones by the end of next year, and by 2015 more people will browse the web on their mobile devices than on PCs. What are the implications for retailers?

What should Australian online retailers be considering right now to future proof their businesses for m-commerce, and when (if ever) will the predicted mobile shopping stampede occur?

We consulted a number of industry experts for their opinion on the implications of m-commerce for Australian retailers and what needs to be done to prepare for the expected mobile shopping stampede. Share your experiences and views in the reader comments below.

Paul Wilson, Managing Director, White Labelled

Australian retailers are undergoing a flurry of activity preparing to trade online this Christmas – but are they thinking mobile? Yes, how can they not?

We’ve heard plenty about mobile and it’s rapid growth, just look at eBay’s investment and sales figures and the volumes that have gone through PayPal’s mobile gateway. Within the Australian market it remains that retailers still have a way to go to simply sell online. There are a limited few with mobile in their strategies and they will benefit from their early learnings. These retailers will be well placed in 18 months time when the uptake and roll out of mobile is more prevalent.

While it’s not far away, we are recommending to our clients to future proof their platforms today with a view that mobile will be another key channel for their business. The strategies include an integrated sales approach, and more so being clear about the end user experience on the plethora of mobile devices that your e-commerce platform needs to support.

While some may see mobile as complicated, its actually not, although the platform that you select and use for online will have a greater impact on your ability to seamlessly integrate and leverage mobile strategies. Platforms like Magento provide a mobile extension that provides seamless integration between your webs store and your mobile store, in addition to supporting your iPhone (and Android soon) application process on your behalf. These insights and considerations will ensure the overheads and costs to open a mobile channel are not exorbitant.

There is huge opportunity for Australian retailers (with good planning) to improve their reach and exposure, be ahead of the curve, grab the comparison shopper, drive shoppers directly in store, develop a new sales channel, appeal to a more affluent audience – and all for a relatively low cost if forward thinking and planning are in place today.

Michael Gillespie, Online Marketing Manager, Domino’s Pizza

Thanks to iPhones and more recently Google Android mobile phones, consumers have been given a user-friendly way to access websites and mobile commerce. This ease of access has kicked off great growth and movement in the mobile commerce space, which hopefully will continue to grow.

As usage of mobile devices is growing, it’s something businesses cannot ignore and must be across what is happening, plus which services their customers will expect to be able to access via mobile devices in the near future.

In 2009, with the continued growth in the Domino’s online ordering platform, we anticipated more and more online customers would want to access the benefits of online ordering away from a computer.  This drove us to developing our iPhone application. The move into the mobile commerce space with our app was well received by our customers and actually drove new customers to the brand. The app went to number one on the free app chart in Australia within five days and produced over two million in sales within the first three months.

Our first hand experience has shown us that the mobile commerce stampede may be starting to build and over the next few years may build considerable momentum.

Claudia Sagripanti, Director, VentureOne and Co-Chair, AIMIA Mobile Industry Group

To future proof their businesses for mobile commerce, online retailers need to invest in databases, understand their consumer habits, and look to implement an interaction strategy that is broader than just the life of a campaign. Mobile is a 24/7 strategy; it’s not just a campaign-by-campaign basis anymore.

But also, online retailers need to just get into mobile commerce.  Start off small, do trials and just keep learning, as this is really the only way to be positioned for the future, because mobile will happen.

The mobile stampede is just a matter of time.  It’s about mobile phone penetration, which is huge with the Apple iPhone and once we start getting some more Android handsets into the market, with the adoption of 3G and smart phones, it will just take off, particularly this year before Christmas.  The Samsung Galaxy, and other phones, are coming out and getting people excited.

There are other developments too, with shopping comparison sites such as GetPrice and Lasoo, of which there has been a huge adoption.  So it’s really only a small step for consumers to go “Ok I want that now” or “I’m on this side of town, the product is on the other side of town and I can’t travel, so I’ll buy it online after finding out what’s cheaper on a comparison site.”    Along with Google Goggles, these tools are making it so easy for people to research what to buy via mobile.

If the mobile stampede isn’t this year, then it will happen next year for sure.

Damien Donnelly, Manager – Customer Insights and Search Analyst, Salmat

The most important thing that retailers can do to prepare for mobile, is to understand the exponential growth and start preparations now. Having all stakeholders internally understand and accept this fact, is the first step to securing a prosperous future when m-commerce hits.

That said, while mobile adoption is coming like a tsunami, m-commerce is still a little bit away, but offers great returns to those who get it right.

Once this is done, the next best thing to do is consider mobile first in every future decision. If you’re designing a new webpage, consider how it would be designed for mobile first. If you’re engaging in a video content strategy, consider how it will display on mobile. If you’re running a competition, consider how it would work on mobile.

Given that many people will be accessing their Twitter/Facebook and reading email all through their phones, you have to expect more surfing will take place there – granted, it will be a different kind of surfing. Mobile behaviour is quick, in and out, short bursts as opposed to laptop/desktop surfing which caters to longer browsing sessions.

Finally, the objective of getting mobile payments done is to make them super easy and painless. Wherever possible, remove friction in this process. You have to pay meticulous attention to the user experience for these transactions. From the vendor perspective, it is the most important experience that a user will have with your brand, so make it as pleasant as possible.

What are your thoughts?

Article by Elisabeth Lambert

Elisabeth is an editor and content creator for The Media Pad, publishers of Power Retail. As a writer and blogger, she is rapt that she is able to channel her passion for online retailing into Power Retail. She also loves writing about rugby, pop culture, travel and anything baby related. Having spent most of the last decade in Japan, Elisabeth still immerses herself in as much Japanese crazy as possible, and when she has time, Elisabeth likes to cook, ski and train for triathlons.