The commercial sector has witnessed a number of advancements in the past couple of few decades; mobile commerce or m commerce is also one of them.
If you are not aware of this term or want to know more about this then you are at the right place.
In this write-up, we will let you know the basics of mobile commerce or m commerce in detail.
First thing first, let us understand what is m commerce and later we will dig deeper into the world of m commerce in India and around the world-
What is m-Commerce?
The Internet has completely revolutionized the world around us.
Gone are the days when people used to just rely on websites from their desktop to find out information about each and every single thing.
This is the time when there are more smartphone owners everywhere and with that, there is a whole new trend that has resurfaced and we all know it as mobile commerce.
If you haven’t heard about it already then you are clearly living under a rock because it is one of the hottest topics of discussions.
Mobile commerce has been changing the world in the best way from providing shopping cart optimization services to email as well as social media services as well. So, there is no doubt that businesses need to make sure that they are able to utilize the best benefits of mobile commerce.
Our lifestyle has changed considerably after the advancements on the internet. It has impacted the commercial sector with the same intensity it has impacted our lives.
The definition of shopping is completely different now when compared to what it was a few years ago.
E-commerce or electronic commerce is majorly about the involvement of the internet in the commercial sector.
Now mobile commerce is basically a part of e-commerce or you can say an advanced method in e-commerce.
As per the stats, mobile devices were responsible around 30% of US e-commerce sales.
When you start using telecommunication devices or mobile phones for commercial activities then we call the phenomenon mobile commerce or m-commerce.
In M-commerce you basically buy and sell products or perform commercial activities through your mobile devices with the assistance of the internet.
Activities like mobile banking, money transfers through mobile phones and so on falls under the roof of mobile commerce.
Here are some of the features of m-commerce that can increase your business potential.
Key Features of M-Commerce
1) Flexibility and Control
As an entrepreneur can use the source code of the m-commerce and make an alteration to it as per requirements, this lets you have full control over the business. Unlike any commercial proprietary software, you will get complete control of the software tools that you are using.
At the very time, you also get unmatched versatility with mobile commerce. The m-commerce Software has been licensed in a means that you can easily modify it yourself or choose a third party to give the required adjustments to ensure that it suits the specific requirements of your business.
2) Longevity
Longevity is added as an essential reason to choose an “m-commerce” for your business. When you are using business software and the company giving it goes out of business, you lose all the safety patches, bug difficulties, support and the chance of the future updated versions of the software.
Nevertheless, if you are doing the m-commerce and apiece of the software which you will be using is essential for your business, you can get charge of any new extensions to the software or seek advice from third-party developers, programmers, and consulting firms.
3) Big Data
Every market is moved by the introduction of Big Data reconstruction today, and no business software can coordinate with m-commerce when it brings to big data. All gratitude to the likes of m-commerce and big data go together now. M-commerce can be ideally attuned to match the huge demands placed by big data with security and flexibility.
4) E-Commerce
Today, a large portion of the companies have been revealed in the E-Commerce approach, and m-commerce offers significant advantages to such groups. If you need to or you have been marketing products online, you cannot manage to give the development tools like Prestashop and others.
There are vast collections of most important E-Commerce solutions you will get in m-commerce that you won’t even remember about using business software.
5) Cloud
If your company has to do with these platforms, the cloud is quite inevitable, and the most significant part is that the considerable cloud professionals across the society hail from the web design community. Rackspace, Redhat, Amazon, are among the top names associated with cloud deployments and our web design.
Though, if you own a business and do not want to go with the larger companies, you can always find the apt web design counterparts “ownCloud”. You can take benefit either from the ownCloud’s solutions or can create your own.
6) Server Software
Today, the most reliable server software ready for the markets is the ones that are m-commerce. For example, if you are yet battling with web server software like IIS granted by Microsoft, want Apache and get relieved of all the problems.
Furthermore, if you wish SMB sharing, annihilation can be more useful than Samba. Samba 4 likewise provides Active Directory integration.
These were any of the cardinal advantages which your marketing can leverage by going “m-commerce”.
After knowing what is M Commerce, the time has come to go through different types of mobile commerce-
Types of M Commerce
M-commerce comes with plenty of applications and below we have mentioned the major types of m-commerce in India and around the world –
1. Shopping
With the advancement in technology, shopping has become a lot easier these days. You can easily shop through your mobile phones with the help of internet. Now, this is what we know as mobile shopping.
Since mobile users are growing day by day, the entire web is optimized for mobile phones.
Whether it is a website or app or types of social media platform, everything has been well-optimized for mobile phones, which has undoubtedly made the mobile shopping experience great.
2. Payments
Whether it’s about paying your electricity bills or paying for food, everything can be done through your mobile phone only.
This has enhanced the ease of payment for users. One can easily pay to one’s favourite merchant through their mobile phone in no time and without any complications.
3. Banking
Mobile banking is one of the most used types of m-commerce world. Nobody would have imagined that banking can become this much easy.
Though there are certain transaction and service restrictions on mobile phones you can still perform major banking tasks from your mobile phone itself.
Now let us talk about certain features of M-commerce in India.
Benefits of Mobile Commerce
Here, I can keep explaining you different theoretical aspects of mobile commerce entire day but you can best understand it if you are opened up to the practical features of mobile commerce.
It becomes easier to understand things when you know the merits and demerits of anything.
So let us understand the major features of mobile commerce one by one –
1. Convenience
When mobile phones were brought into application people the first talk of the convenience and comfort they will be getting through mobile phones.
Mobile commerce; undoubtedly enhances the comfort and convenience of people.
It is a lot easier to make a purchase from your mobile phone rather than opening a laptop or going to store. You can easily do that from your convenient spot.
You don’t need to carry heavy gadgets everywhere if you are going to make transactions while you travel.
Spontaneity is also one of the major features of mobile commerce. You can take spontaneous actions if you are applying mobile commerce in your daily lifestyle.
If you are travelling and you get a sudden urge to shop anything from online platforms, you don’t need to rush home and do it through your laptop rather you can conveniently do it through your mobile phone.
2. Different Payment Options
Yes, mobile commerce opens up a number of payment options for you which provides you with ease of payment.
These days you can pay to your favourite merchant in many ways like internet banking, debit or credit card, EMI and UPI. You can choose your favourite method as per your convenience.
With the introduction of UPI payment mode in mobile phones, the payment process has become easier than ever and least time taking.
3. Mobility
Well, this doesn’t any explanation as such. You know how easy it is to carry your mobile phones with you wherever you want.
If you have a business then this becomes a very useful feature for a person like you. Mobile commerce provides you with the ease to interact with your customers easily. It will undoubtedly boost up your sale.
No geographical boundaries can restrict you if you are using mobile commerce. No matter if you want to buy or sell anything or any other commercial task, mobile commerce opens up the ease of doing for you.
In short, mobile commerce provides you with easy to access the e-commerce world from where ever you want and at your convenience.
4. Lesser Electricity Requirement
A feature for the betterment of our environment. The usage of mobile for different commercial activities no doubt saves the electricity considerably. You don’t need a power outlet everywhere to make commercial decisions.
Since mobile phones are coming with higher battery capacity, it becomes extremely easy for people to do shopping without electricity.
If your mobile phone is well charged then you can perform different commercial activities from anywhere irrespective of the availability of electricity supply.
5. Usage of Mobile Commerce
People’s interest in mobile commerce is growing day by day. More and more people have started using mobile commerce.
There are a number of ways in which mobile commerce is being used these days by people all around the world.
People are shifting towards mobile commerce because it is convenient and efficient at the same time. It is not only effective in terms of performance but also cost-effective.
The relationship between buyer and seller is also improved in the mobile marketing world. Trust development is also easy and effective in this world.
These are the major reasons while people are shifting towards mobile commerce world.
Applications of Mobile Commerce
Let us now understand what are the major applications of mobile commerce?
1. Browsing & Purchase
With the advancement of technology, it has become a lot easier to shop online. You can easily shop for your favourite products or services through your mobile phone only.
You can purchase your favourite products even when you are browsing the web.
2. Purchase Mobile Content
Whether it is game, music, movie or whatnot, you can purchase everything for your mobile phone from the web and it will be directly installed in your device.
3. Banking
Manage your bank account from your mobile phone only at your convenience. Whether you want to inquire about your account’s balance or transfer money, you can do everything from your mobile phone.
4. Get Plenty of Information
Get to know about whatever happening around you from your mobile phone only. Get the local weather information and what not from your mobile phone only. Traffic reports and other location-based services can also be accessed through your mobile phone only.
5. Advertising
One of the best applications of mobile commerce is digital advertising. Since people spend a lot of their time on mobile phones, advertisers target this to advertise for their products and services. Getting attention is extremely easy when you are into the mobile commerce world.
Undoubtedly mobile commerce is extremely beneficial but there are certain disadvantages of mobile commerce as well. Let us read about the disadvantages of mobile commerce and how can you refrain yourself from any potential harm.
Potential Disadvantages of Mobile Commerce
1. Security
Yes, there are security and privacy issues on mobile phones. Though a number of safety measures have been taken by developers there are a few security issues that ask for your attention.
The theft of personal information and payment details has grown at a large scale in recent years which is the major reason why people have trust issues on the mobile commerce world. Hacking and bypassing security is very common these days.
To counter this you need to make sure that your mobile phone is free from non-reliable third-party applications. You need to make payments through reliable merchant and keep on changing your bank account security details regularly.
2. User Interface
Though this can be put while counting advantages of mobile commerce as well, yes sometimes developers miss certain details while creating the platform for their user and this lead to website design issues.
Mobile Commerce Tips For The Beginners
Do you want to create your very own mobile commerce strategy in the best way? Well, you might need some help with that. Here we are presenting you with some of the best tips that can help in the creation of the perfect strategy of mobile commerce
1) Focus More On The Cart
There are so many retailers in the market that often tend to invest in product assortment, merchandising, design and so much more when it comes to mobile sites. However, one mistake that they often make is totally forgetting about the shopping cart that they have for people.
There are about 97% of the carts in the online shopping world which are left abandoned. The reason behind this is that shopping carts are often pretty cluttered and have some items that are not necessary. People need to take care of that factor first.
2) Mobile Is Social
There are about 60% of the users of Twitter and Facebook that access the site on their mobile devices. So, when we say that mobile can be considered as the new platform for these social media sites, you will not be able to argue with it.
So, it is really important for the businesses to make sure that their social media posts are all properly linked to these amazing landing pages that they have on their websites. This is certainly going to guarantee them some visitors in the future.
3) Designing Email For Mobile
About 26% of the customers use the smartphones that they have in order to view the emails and there are not many that use the computers. So, with the help of the proper association between email and the business, there can be many benefits.
Email sent to the people should have links to your business website so that you can have the best results.
Final Words
So this was all about mobile commerce. We talked about its type, features, usage, and disadvantages.
M-commerce in India has witnessed a huge increment in the last few years.
People are shifting more and more towards this because of many reasons as discussed above. This technical advancement is certainly revolutionizing.
It has enhanced the comfort and convenience for people who prefer shopping online and making online transactions.
Get into this world and use it at its fullest for your business goals as well.
Joining the Mobile Marketing Certification Course will help you learn and master Mobile Commerce like a pro.
