In Poland, the statistics are even more interesting. Poles are eager to use mobile shopping – according to data collected in the “E-commerce in Poland 2024” report, compiled by Gemius in cooperation with IABPoland, as many as 79% of users buy through smartphones, making them the most popular devices for online shopping in Poland!
Under such circumstances, sellers simply cannot afford to neglect mobile sales channels. Find out what m-commerce is, why shopping on a phone is a favorable option – especially for sellers – and how to create an ideal shopping experience for smartphone users.
M-commerce: what is it?
E-commerce (electronic commerce) is a collection that includes online sales and purchases. M-commerce (mobile commerce) is a subset of e-commerce. In other words: it’s sales and electronic purchases finalized from mobile devices. Any transaction that is completed via a smartphone (or, much less frequently, a tablet) belongs to m-commerce.
In the current environment, the potential of m-commerce cannot be overestimated. This branch of commerce is growing extremely rapidly – as early as 2023, traffic from smartphones accounted for almost 80% of visits and 66% of e-commerce orders.
In the same year, mobile purchases generated more than half of the revenue in electronic sales. But it doesn’t stop there – it is now estimated that in 2028 it will be 63% of the
E-commerce vs. m-commerce: how are they different?
The growing popularity of m-commerce is good news for retailers. The shift in user preference from shopping on a computer to shopping from a phone makes the decision-making process significantly shorter.
In the days when customers bought mainly on a computer (we use the past tense not coincidentally), it could take a very long time from the moment the purchase need arose to the finalization of the transaction. This happened for one simple reason – the consumer often, at the moment he saw an advertisement or became a participant in a situation that aroused a purchase need… did not have the right device at hand to make a purchase. Even pulling out a laptop was sometimes problematic – for example, when traveling or in a stationary store.
Today, customers have smartphones that fit in their pockets and allow them to shop quickly in almost any situation. This means that one minute we can think we need something, only to pay for the product a minute-two later – also via smartphone, of course.
The development of m-commerce is therefore very much in favor of sellers. This does not mean, however, that customers always welcome the opportunity to shop on the phone with open arms. They may respond that way, but only if the store creates the right conditions for them to do so.
Types of mobile commerce
M-commerce is still a relatively young branch of sales, hence it has yet to see many attempts to systematize it. Nevertheless, over the past few years, a conventional division into three types of mobile commerce has emerged: mobile shopping, mobile banking and mobile payments.
- Mobile shopping is a category that includes making purchases through mobile web browsers and online store applications. In addition to the act of buying itself, this group also includes important accompanying activities – browsing products, comparing prices, etc.
- Mobile banking includes issues of access to bank accounts and services, but also the ability to conduct transactions – pay bills, invest, etc. Mobile banking activities generally take place in the banks’ secure application environment.
- Mobile payments are all kinds of solutions that enable payments via a phone or smartwatch. This category includes mobile wallets, ApplePay or GooglePay, among others.
A more detailed breakdown also involves separating out mobile ticket purchases (for events, concerts, public transportation rides, etc.), as well as mobile content purchases (music, movies, e-books, apps, PPV content).
Advantages of mobile commerce
Mobile commerce brings many benefits to both customers and sellers. Among the most important advantages of m-commerce are:
Accessibility and convenience
Making purchases has never been as easy as it is today (although it may still be easier). Customers place orders via devices they keep in their pockets. They can do it on the go, on a break from work, while walking or visiting friends.
M-commerce is also about being able to instantly compare prices across multiple sites and make purchasing decisions based on that – for example, when viewing a product in a physical store. Sellers must therefore focus on optimizing the visibility of their products. Absence from comparison and search engines will significantly hinder success in the mobile space.
Faster transaction processing
By integrating stores with mobile payments, customers can make a purchase instantly. This is partly beneficial for customers (easy access to product ordering options means that there is often not enough time to reconsider the rationale for the purchase), but unequivocally beneficial for sellers. Situations in which a customer saw an advertisement for a product, but managed to forget about it by the time he or she reached home, no longer occur.
The most successful sellers are able to capitalize on this moment of buying impulse:
- intensify the need to buy (offers limited in time or quantity),
- make it easier to make a purchase (for example, by not requiring registration or implementing deferred payments),
- promise quick gratification with an immediate purchase (this could be faster shipping, freebies, double loyalty program points, etc.).
Increased commitment
M-commerce is not revolutionizing, but it is expanding the ways in which stores can communicate with customers. With their own apps, stores are gaining access to another important communication channel – push notifications.
These notifications record high conversions, and on top of that, the possibilities for personalization and customization according to the time of day or market situation are immeasurable. Even stores without their own apps can reap the benefits of m-commerce – for example, using the potential of SMS marketing.
Easy access to detailed data
Smartphone operating systems are capable of acquiring a lot of customer data, including purchase history or current location. You can use this information, for example, to inform customers about your nearby stores (if you also run physical outlets), but also in internal research and analysis.
The more detailed the data, the more truthful the portrait of the customer you will be able to draw.
Disadvantages of m-commerce
Mobile commerce also brings risks and drawbacks. Learn about them and then try to minimize their impact on your customers!
According to the “E-commerce 2024 Report” (p. 225), 32% of smartphone shoppers complain about inconvenient forms, and 28% complain about the lack of adequate adaptation of shopping sites to mobile devices. Other elements that cause annoyance to users include: lack of a mobile app, inconvenient payment method or too many steps to complete a purchase.
Less convenience
In the previous section, we mentioned convenience as one of the benefits of m-commerce. So why are we writing about less convenience in this one? Because smartphones have their limitations, caused primarily by the size of the devices. Small screens make it more difficult for customers to discern the location of important elements on a store’s website.
What’s more, lower-end smartphones and tablets can take longer to load web pages than laptops or desktops – this leads us directly to the next point.
More noticeable impact of lack of optimization
While optimization of websites or apps is of great importance everywhere, on smartphones its lack is particularly noticeable. Customers often shop on the phone on the run, between other activities, on impulse. In such a situation, every second of delay in loading a store page or a product card in an app is of great importance.
Security concerns
Mobile devices are considered more vulnerable to hacking attacks – the targets of online criminals are usually the operating systems and the device’s internal memory. Some users are still wary of giving payment data via their phone (or even entering it into their devices), worrying about the possibility of data leakage.
What’s more, many customers still don’t buy online – the percentage is 22%, and 17% of people in this group indicate that the reason is precisely because of concerns about payment security.
How to prepare your store for mobile customers?
If you’re running an online store and hoping for a piece of the m-commerce pie, don’t count on customers to come on their own. The key is to properly prepare for their arrival. To do so, it’s a good idea to first understand the reasons why Internet users make purchases over the phone. But even more importantly, you also need to know the reasons why they abandon these purchases, stopping only to browse the offers.
Make sure your site is adapted for mobile devices
Responsive Web Design refers to web design that takes into account the small screens of smartphones, scales well to different resolutions, makes it easy to navigate the site and go through the steps of making and finalizing a purchase. A situation in which a customer accesses a store’s website on his phone and notices that it does not have a mobile version prepared, most often ends up leaving it immediately.
Make sure content, product sheets, forms and interface elements work well on all devices, and that the design scales with both popular 6-inch phone screens and tablets. Although their market share is small, it is not worth neglecting users of devices with medium-sized screens.
Also keep in mind the page loading speed. It’s better to forgo additional visual elements to gain a few precious seconds in return. Even fractions of seconds can determine the success of an operation, and with customers using smartphones and tablets, loading time is many times more important than among desktop users.
Streamline the buying process
The fewer steps to follow and data to enter, the better. Consider whether you necessarily need registered users, and if it’s crucial, try to make the registration process not daunting. Entering data, passwords, address, etc. on a phone is simply less convenient.
Of course, the acquisition of some data cannot be dispensed with. However, pay special attention to require only the truly relevant ones.
When it comes to mobile commerce, details are important – for example, whether the site will handle autocomplete forms when entering an address. People living on Gen. Tadeusz Bora-Komorowski Street or residents of Niewodnica Nargilewska-Kolonia will appreciate the fact that after entering the first few letters, your store’s website will suggest the rest of the name.
Similarly, you can make it easier to choose a delivery point by implementing interactive maps from which the customer will be able to select a pickup point located in his area.
Add as many payment methods as possible
Having to pay for an order in a way that is not optimal for the customer is a simple way to abandon the shopping cart. In m-commerce, it is crucial to integrate the store with modern forms of payment. BLIK, deferred payments, ApplePay, GooglePay, quick 0% installments are all solutions that significantly influence how many customers choose to see an order through to the very end.
Harness the potential of push notifications
As we mentioned earlier, push notifications can be used in m-commerce in many different ways. With them:
- You will be reminded of an abandoned shopping cart and encouraged to return.
- You will inform users about the active promotion,
- You will be reminded of unused points in the loyalty program,
- will let you know about the changed opening hours of the physical locations,
- You will provide information on the status of the shipment,
- you will announce a new collection,
- you will be told about the delivery of expected products or renewed availability,
Let customers see the product before they buy
We mentioned earlier that as many as 22% of Poles do not buy online. The most common reason for such a decision is the fact that customers prefer to see the product before buying – cited by as many as 34% of respondents.
While it is difficult or impossible to do so when shopping from a desktop or laptop computer, smartphones allow users to view a selected product through AR (Augmented Reality), or augmented reality.
This is still a fairly niche (though not new) solution, but one that is endowed with particularly high potential, especially in product categories such as furniture and decor.
Summary
Online store owners already can’t afford to neglect mobile commerce. Over time, its role will only grow – at least until the next technological revolution takes place and consumers shop with neural implants instead of smartphones. However, this doesn’t look like it will happen in the coming years, which is why success-oriented online stores are focusing on constantly improving the experience for customers using smartphones.
Investing in your own app or UX changes may seem expensive, but the ROI of such a change should reward you for the cost. Remember, too, that you don’t have to start with the most costly projects. For a good start, it is worth making strides to optimize your store’s website for smartphones and tablets. Any positive change in this direction can bring you new, satisfied customers.
