A few years back, it has been predicted that mobile commerce will be growing at a steady pace; most especially when mobile handsets become more advanced. Surveys recently conducted by Compete and comScore show that indeed, m-commerce is causing quite a stir in the world of commerce and ecommerce.
As comScore reports, 234 million Americans aged 13 and above are now mobile and 74 million of which are using smartphones or phones with Internet capabilities. Meanwhile, Compete talks about mobile payment popularity, assessing which items and services consumers are most likely to pay for with their mobiles.
Clearly, the numbers above shows that it would be advantageous for ecommerce websites to also have a mobile-ready store. How then should ecommerce stores gear up for the mobile revolution?
First of all, having a mobile specific subdomain would be a good start. Make changes in your ecommerce website by preparing it to be mobile-friendly. If you must, use a handset-specific CSS (cascading style sheet). If your ecommerce website design is developed according to current web standards, a simple change in your CSS would allow you to adjust your layout easily to fit the size of mobile screens.
Next is to think mobile. Since mobile screens are smaller, an empowered site search is extremely important. A regular ecommerce site viewed on a large monitor allows shoppers to take in more visual elements. On a mobile screen that is just a few inches wide, visual browsing is less desirable. Doing a quick site search is the best option.
As ecommerce sites require an exact match in its search field, it’s an entirely different story in mobile commerce sites. Do away with rigid search matches. Typing on a regular keyboard is far easier than typing on tiny keypads. Considering misspelled words and suggesting search matches as the shopper types makes for a more enjoyable mobile shopping experience.
Lastly, look for additional payment options. According to the survey done by Compete, consumers are still wary of typing their credit card information on a mobile device, thinking that it is less secure than an ecommerce site. You may want to consider Pay Pal, Google Checkout and the like as payment options wherein no credit card information is necessary. Another option is to offer mobile-specific payment options in which the transaction is billed through the customer’s phone bill. Mobile service providers usually contact the merchant when the transaction is complete.
Or how about waiting for the much talked about Google Wallet, said to revolutionize the mobile paying market?
Don’t be contented with the current slice of the pie you have as your ecommerce customer base. Tap into the mobile market share. Your ecommerce website complimented with an m-commerce store might not just bring you an extra slice or two of the market share, but the entire pie itself.
