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Infographic: Will M-commerce Overtake E-commerce?

Published on July 24th, 2012 by Brianne Brewer

Brianne Brewer
About the Author
I am the overseer of social media here at BigCommerce and, if you follow us on Twitter or Facebook, you are likely to find me asking questions and discussing all things ecommerce. I am passionate about communication and am always looking for new tools to connect with our clients and help them sell more.

In an effort to understand the changing landscape of e-commerce, we examined analyst and trend-watching data from several sources to build some context around the emergence of m-commerce (mobile commerce). Retail as an industry is experiencing tectonic shifts in consumer behavior and the popularity of devices like smartphones and tablets is having a significant impact on both online and in-store shopping. Remarkably, these relatively new trends are creating their own, newer trends. Showrooming is becoming a common activity in brick-and-mortar stores and gives consumers an opportunity to see and experience products that they then purchase online of via mobile devices.

Price competition has been a driving force in e-commerce trends and m-commerce is giving shoppers exponentially more control over their shopping experience. In the United States alone, m-commerce is expected to hit $18 billion by 2014 with e-commerce making up more than half of all retail purchases worldwide. Ensure your business is prepared for the shifting environment and don’t get left behind.

A few significant data points from the research:

  • Smartphone users spend more time on mobile apps than on mobile sites
  • 1 out of every 5 people research products on mobile devices while watching TV
  • Men are set to outspend women on mobile devices
  • Digital content is still the leading product purchased via mobile device
  • Mobile shoppers make the majority of their purchases on the weekends
  • 53% of mobile consumers use their device to “showroom” products

Check out the whole story in the infographic below (click on the image to view larger.)

 

Comments

  1. 1.

    Charlie Noah (July 24th, 2012, 11:12 am)

    Hi Brianne,
    It is usually considered good technical form to define a buzzword when it is introduced in an article, especially a fairly new one. It’s pretty easy to figure out from the context that you are talking about mobile commerce, but not everyone will be familiar with it. Just my $.02 worth.
    Regards,
    Charlie

    [Reply]

    Brianne Brewer Reply:
    July 24th, 2012 at 11:50 am

    Charlie,

    Nice catch, you are absolutely right – I will make the correction now.

    Thank you!

    Bri

    [Reply]

  2. 2.

    Charlie Noah (July 24th, 2012, 12:06 pm)

    Thanks for the quick reply, Bri. I just moved to BigCommerce because of the many things my host (I*****) didn’t provide, and in fact had taken away. I am delighted that BC is supporting M-commerce in a big way. The other folks kept promising it, but never did anything more than promise. I think this move is going to be the best thing I’ve ever done for my store.

    Keep up the great work!
    Charlie

    [Reply]

  3. 3.

    Alex Webster (July 24th, 2012, 10:55 pm)

    This is very interesting stuff. We have just spent a fair bit of money making our main website pretty and now I kinda wish we had focused on the mobile website…

    I applaud BC for including a mobile version with each template but I have to say that – out of the box – it is never that pretty and in our case falls a long way short of the kind aesthetic we are trying to achieve.

    i will need to research this further, but we need to understand how we can customize mobile templates in a way that reflects the look and feel of our brand, but which works on a mobile screen. I appreciate any assistance you can provide in this endeavour.

    [Reply]

  4. 4.

    David Levine (July 29th, 2012, 5:55 am)

    As I understand it Big Commerce shows you the device type that our customer used to order, Mobile or desktop. It would be nice if it would tell you phone, ipad or tablet.
    My web site when viewed on a smart phone does not allow the user to click to dial the phone number.
    Any plans for a mobile app with Big Commerce?

    [Reply]

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