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Ask a millennial or anyone older about life before eCommerce and they will have a pretty good idea. However, today there is hardly a self-respecting internet user who hasn’t come across a particularly good deal on the internet especially with the thanks to events like January Sales and Cyber Monday. Interestingly enough, a new paradigm shift is taking place and eCommerce is rapidly shifting to give way to mCommerce.
A new paradigm shift is taking place and eCommerce is rapidly shifting to give way to mCommerce.
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Smartphones have literally changed the way we live. We can now carry the internet in our pockets which is something we could only dream about doing 15 or so years ago. With every new smartphone release, they are getting thinner, more powerful and with bigger screens. As you are more than aware these developments in devices have sparked off an increase of usage – particularly with regards to accessing the web, it can now be argued that smartphones now find more users to access the web compared to making phone calls.
It is no surprise that in late 2016 mobile internet usage crossed desktop usage for the first time showing that 51.3% of internet activity is coming from a handheld device whether it be a mobile or tablet compared to a desktop which saw 48.7%. This number for desktop is expected to keep dropping to the fast nature of updates for mobiles to ensure a faster and more efficient internet connection.
While it is proven that eCommerce platforms through mobile devices have skyrocketed, sales are indeed showing a more moderate increase. This could be due to the fact that being handier and widespread, smartphones provide users with much better opportunities to access the web. However, users are still somewhat more comfortable conducting their financial transactions over desktop.
Mobiles for Browsing, Desktops for Purchasing
People are a lot more comfortable performing transactions from personal computers than they are on their phones. People will be constantly browsing sites on their mobiles or tablets whether that be on public transport or sitting in Starbucks seeing the latest deals and even putting items in their basket. But will most likely wait until they get home and open their laptops before continuing with the purchase. However, we can expect this to change in the coming years as mobile technologies become more secure, and people will become more comfortable with the idea of using their smartphones in order to make payments.
Overall online retail still has a lot of room to grow and stretch its legs, when you start looking at the bigger picture retail sales stand around $3.375 trillion compared to the $294.86 billion which comes from sales over the net. So when you look it in figures online retail is still way behind the traditional way of buying products, But eCommerce and especially mCommerce is one to look out for in the coming years and will it ever take over traditional sales, We would love to hear your thoughts.