The significant rise of mobile technology over recent years with devices like smartphones, tablets, and phablets is rapidly changing the future of the e-commerce industry. Even before COVID-19 threw the world into lockdown, growth of mobile e-commerce sales saw an increase year-on-year. As this trend toward mobile-first e-commerce evolves, it looks set to dominate the e-commerce industry. With that in mind, here’s how the latest mobile tech will continue transforming mobile business environments of the commercial landscape.
Smartphone Adoption In Developing Countries
As mobile technology spread rapidly around the world over the past three decades, it has revolutionised the world of commerce. People living in developed countries with advanced economies have been historically far more likely to have smartphones than in developing countries. But more recently, smartphone usage statistics is showing exponential growth globally, even in those with lower incomes.
Mobile networks in these areas also provide farmers with access to valuable information such as market prices and tracking of livestock, as well as weather and disease control. While online payment systems in many lower socio-economic countries are not quite developed enough just yet, e-commerce will continue achieving higher penetration and increasing in popularity as these obstacles are overcome.
Mobile Payments
Adoption of mobile technology is expanding rapidly with the explosive growth in technology and the increasing trust worldwide in online shopping. In fact, more people own or share a smartphone today than a laptop or computer because they’re more affordable, convenient, accessible, and portable. Which is why there’s been such a monumental shift over the past decade from paying with physical cash to digital payments.
This increasing trend towards mobile payments is obviously being driven mainly by convenience. From a single phone tap at the checkout to getting mobile online purchases delivered directly to your doorstep. Mobile payments has become an industry all of its own, as this type of e-commerce also has a share of the offline market. As mobile payment technology continues to evolve, merchants will keep on searching for new ways to accommodate smartphone payments.
Stronger Marketing
With consumers spending more time on their smartphones than ever before, mobile technology has exploded into all aspects of the entire market. As trust in online shopping has been increasing exponentially, they’re growing more comfortable with using mobile devices to spend their money. Which is why mobile e-commerce is currently one of the biggest marketing trends in the world. While consumers are socializing and communicating on their smartphones, they’re simultaneously browsing online and conveniently shopping on the go.
By monitoring and carefully analysing mobile traffic, brands can use mobile e-commerce to increase marketing whenever consumer interest is spiking or waning. Because it can be used to gather data on the buying habits and preferences of consumers, mobile e-commerce can be much more effective than other forms of multi-channel sales and marketing. Simply by incorporating mobile sales and marketing in their overall strategies, companies can learn more about their customers to create more personalised experiences.
Seamless Experience
The increasing importance of smartphones for social integration and lifestyle patterns has led the explosion of mobile e-commerce in western society. Now as current consumer trends suggest online shopping with smartphones is becoming the new normal, brands can utilise this technology to deliver seamless shopping experiences between devices, platforms, and operating systems for their consumers. With improved customer experiences on websites, online shoppers are becoming increasingly trusting when purchasing items online.
With more digital shoppers than ever before, it may be unsurprising that many prefer using mobile devices as they offer more convenience than computers. But while mobile shopping is often preferred, some browse on mobile before making their purchase on a desktop PC. This is the main reason why brands are developing seamless purchasing experiences and integrations with payment gateways. As more people are shopping online, brands are providing them with seamless and more customer-friendly shopping experiences.
Growth Of E-Commerce Platforms
The increased access to mobile internet access has helped fuel the growth of e-commerce platforms like Alibaba, Taobao, and Shopify. The constantly emerging growth of various e-commerce platforms, combined with multiple payment options, helped customers become more comfortable with online shopping. While many of these e-commerce platforms were already well established pre-pandemic, they have certainly strengthened their identity and increased in popularity over the last 12 months.
The transition to online shopping rapidly increased once these major e-commerce platforms transformed mobile financial transactions by developing new cutting-edge technologies. Without the creation of these new payment systems, it’s unlikely that e-commerce platforms would have seen such rapid expansion and growth. Not only are they responsible for redefining digital sales, but their efforts are ensuring the online shopping landscape continues to evolve significantly.
Final thoughts
Rather than constantly pouring time and money into marketing that attracts consumers into their stores, mobile technology ultimately allows brands to leverage e-commerce to be wherever consumers are. With all of these upward trends towards smartphone technology, it’s really no surprise that mobile e-commerce is becoming unstoppable.
