Do You Have a Mobile commerce Strategy?

By the end of 2015, mobile share is forecast to reach 33% in the US, and 40% globally.

As a society that is ever connected, we are now online more than we are offline, all thanks to the little hardware wonder in our hands. Today we use our mobile phones for much more than just making a phone call. We use it for messaging, social media access, camera, browsing the net, and now slowly, mobile payments.

From a mobile commerce perspective, an important milestone was reached in 2014. For the first time last year, mobile browsing overtook the PC and from the looks of it, this will continue. This trend did not go unnoticed, especially among the mobile payment solution providers.

An Ecommerce Strategy is NOT the Same as a Mobile Strategy

Most merchants, who sell online, do not differentiate between Mobile commerce or E-Commerce. To them, it is one and the same and therein lies the problem. E-Commerce and Mobile Commerce are two separate avenues. Each has its own strategy.

Businesses can significantly improve conversion rates for their online sales if they adopt a mobile payment solution that caters to the unique elements of all things mobile.

ecommerce vs mobile commerce srategyFork in the road: E-Commerce & Mobile Commerce.

How Do I Create a Mobile Commerce Strategy?

It is vital to have a clear idea of the objectives you wish to achieve with your mobile commerce strategy. Some pertinent questions to ask yourself:

• How much of my website traffic is mobile enabled?
• Has the website been optimized for mobile traffic? (Is your site responsive)?
• Images of the products you sell, are they optimized for the small real-estate space a mobile has to offer?
• Is the UX intuitive?
• Checkout - is it painful or frictionless?
• How big is your catalog? Would you be porting all the SKUs on mobile? (Some products sell better on mobile/desktop, whilst others only on desktop)
• How does your payment platform affect speed during checkout?
• Do you incorporate the preferred (local) payment method?
• Is your preferred payment method secure and frictionless?
• Will it integrate with your shopping cart?
• How easy is sign-up for a first time user?

These are some of the questions you should be asking yourself as a merchant. Many e-tailers assume (incorrectly) that their existing E-Commerce strategy will juxtapose onto the mobile, and mobile commerce will be a breeze. This is usually not the case.

A borrowed mobile commerce strategy is not an option.

With mobile commerce sales slated to cross US$ 50 Billion for 2015, merchants need to rethink their strategies in view of the behaviour of their users, especially with respect to handheld devices they are now using all the time.

Increase Mobile Conversions - Reduce Cart Abandonment

The first step in reducing cart abandonment and increasing conversion is a mobile payments solution that is simple, intuitive and secure. The ideal payment solution will not only enable merchants to rethink their mobile commerce strategy but also improve conversions on mobile, leading to more sales.

Reducing the steps required to pay for your product is essential in increasing conversions. No one wants to go through ten different steps just to pay for a pizza.

Make it simple - make it easy - and customers will love you for it!

A great example is I want to briefly mention is a startup called Sign2Pay (believe they are based out of Belgium and Netherlands). They have a very unique approach allowing merchants to onboard sales from their mobile, with something as simple as a signature (gesture) drawn on your mobile phone, thus allowing you to pay from your bank using the SEPA Direct Debit. Yes darn it - a signature!!! (I had to read up on the SEPA Direct Debit mandate to understand that a signature is all that is required to have authorization for a payment in continental Europe).

If you're remotely familar how payments are done in Europe, this is much more frictionless way of doing payments. No more card readers, no more pinching and zooming screens to fill out forms, no more reaching for your debit card from your bag when on the move. Just sign and pay.

I hope you now have a better sense of understanding how important it is to look at the mobile device and especially mobile commerce differently from the desktop version of your store.