M-commerce is transforming businesses; how ready are brands for next growth phase?

Mobile retail e-commerce sales in India were estimated to be valued at nearly $38 billion by 2020. As per industry reports, India’s consumer digital economy is expected to become a $800 billion market by 2030, growing from $537.5 billion in 2020, driven by strong adoption of online services such as e-commerce and edtech in the country. According to Grant Thornton, e-commerce in India is expected to be worth $188 billion by 2025. There are many reasons for this rapid rise, especially with the millennials and Gen Next, who are tech savvy and comfortable transacting through their mobiles. The rise of mobile wallets and banks providing well secured digital payment platforms has also paved the way for the industry to only keep on growing.

The transition to m-commerce has been further buoyed by increase in data speed, growing Internet penetration the advent of Jio. The pandemic period has given a push to faster adoption of online buying and digital transactions. Thus, we have seen consumers buying almost everything that they consumer – from groceries and household goods to even jewellery and automobiles online amid the lockdowns and social distancing. Even Tier 2 & 3 markets and beyond are increasing switching to online buying and the mobile phone is turning into the new market place.

More and more brands are adopting an omni-channel strategy to reach the last mile and garner every pie of the market share. What’s more, even traditional retail stores and local kirana shops are now transitioning to an online format, along with offline operations. There are many departmental stores who have dedicated teams taking orders only on Whatsapp and delivering them in 30 minutes.

Affordable mobile devices have further given a boost to m-commerce. In the multi-device world of today, m-commerce and e-commerce are seeing unprecedented growth. With the use of more advanced algorithms and strengthening of Search operations, online shopping portals are making the navigation on their platforms simpler and are offering a seamless shopping experience to consumers.

So, how does m-commerce actually help brands and customers?

Convenience: One can shop from anywhere, any time and on the go.

Choice: The search mechanism helps consumers decide on and select the product with ease.

Time Saving: It saves a lot of time, as one shops from the comfort of one’s home, without any travel involved.

Personalised experience: Mobile being a personal medium, customers are served products of their liking and at the designated time. AL and ML make it possible for brands to offer more targeted search results.

Insightful Data Analytics: These help brands to track purchase behaviour and target accordingly with various data that are collected.

Attracting new customers: Anyone visiting the website can be targeted.

The trend of mobile commerce will only move upwards and will grow at a faster rate in the years to come. In 2021, mobile commerce sales will account for more than half of the total e-commerce sales, as per industry reports. Today, one-third of the purchasing decisions are influenced by researching products on mobile devices. More than half of retailers already have a mobile app and they are also trying to adapt to the change. With more start-ups emerging and further innovation in technology happening continuously, we will see newer technologies in the mobile commerce space for things to be swifter and more secured.

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