29 Jan
The term “Commerce” has its roots in the Latin Word “Commercium” that means “merchandise together”. Commerce has come a long way since its inception from Local to Global trades.
With the advent of innovative technologies, E-Commerce & Mobile Commerce came to the fore. The term online shopping was introduced by Michael Aldrich in 1979 which was later known as E-commerce. Physical stores quickly adopted the novel E-Commerce method to create virtual stores so that any person can shop for products via the internet from the comfort of their home. The only catch was that people needed a bulky computer or a laptop to check out the products & carry out the purchase. This is a revolutionary way to scale up a business, enhance sales & brand visibility.
However, everyone cannot afford a computer or a laptop. This limited the reach of E-Commerce. This is where M-Commerce comes into the picture. The evolution of smartphone & rapid penetration of a smart mobile device among the masses was seen by online businesses as a great way to tap into the market. It even nudged companies to focus on developing mobile commerce applications so that they can increase their sales. People are using mobile phones & apps for daily activities like food ordering, online shopping for clothes & accessories, hotel & travel bookings and more. So, let’s know about Mobile Commerce & its significance for Shopify stores & other online businesses.
What is M-Commerce?
Mobile Commerce or simply mCommerce involves activities like browsing, buying or selling or products via a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet. So this means that anyone can simply use a smartphone to check out the latest clothes, gadgets & other products with a few clicks & swipes. If they like something, they can easily add it to their virtual shopping cart & complete the purchase via online payment or cash on delivery method. The product will be delivered within a few days to the consumer.
Compare this easy process to the cumbersome traditional shopping process:
- People had to go to a physical store
- Sift through products like clothes or gadgets
- If they don’t like the products, then they had to go to a different one
- By the end of the day, they would’ve visited 5-6 shops or even more
- Many times, customers end up not buying anything due to the tiresome shopping experience.
We can see that M-Commerce is the clear winner, because:
- No need of going to physical stores
- Go through various products with just a few clicks
- Easily Switch to another mobile app which provides more product varieties
- Virtual Shopping Carts & Timely Reminders & seamless payments enable customers to get their preferred product from the comfort of their home.
Why Is Mobile Commerce Important?
mCommerce is a big part of the Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce) where people or companies conduct business via the Internet. Mobile commerce is witnessing rapid growth due to availability of fast wireless networks (4G, 5G & WiFi), affordable smartphones & tablets, enhanced impetus on mobile app development & holistic resolution of major security issues.
Leading statistic reports on mCommerce state that:
- The revenue generated by Global mCommerce platforms is set to reach a whopping USD 3.6 billion by 2021
- Almost 70% of the global population owns a mobile phone.
- Around 75% of smartphone users made an online purchase via their mobile device in the last 6 months.
- In the year 2018 itself, people from all over the world spent a combined 18 billion hours on mobile shopping apps.
- More than 67% of the world’s population are first-time mobile phone users.
These staggering numbers attest to the fact that mCommerce is not going to slow down. Instead, it will outpace eCommerce methods & will be the preferred mode of business for people & online stores like Shopify as well as other businesses.
Advantages of mobile commerce:
These are a few merits of M-Commerce that are beneficial for online stores & businesses:
- Seamless Store Access with a mobile app
- Excellent Customer Experience
- Personalized Notifications
- Cost-Effective
- Highly Productive
Thus, Mobile Commerce is on a rapid rise & is being effectively used by e-commerce organizations, online stores such as Shopify & other businesses to enhance their sales & generate amazing revenue. Online Stores that want to hop on the M-Commerce bandwagon can use a simple Mobile App builder for Shopify called Storifi. It enables non-techies & professional app builders to create a custom Shopify Mobile App and leverage it to improve sales & income generation.
Related Blogs
Begin Your Shopify
Success Journey Today!
With Storifi, create your very own branded mobile app to increase retention of your loyal customer base and boost sales.
Shopify Partner
