What is Mobile Commerce & Why Does It Matter?

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:

1. Seamless Store Access with a mobile app
2. Excellent Customer Experience
3. Personalized Notifications
4. Cost-Effective
5. 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.