In spite of the unprecedented smartphone boom, shoppers are apparently still reluctant when it comes to e-commerce apps.
According to a report compiled by Research2Guidance.com, the vast majority of mobile shops made less than 5 percent of their total e-commerce revenue via the mobile channel. The share of companies that managed to generate 25% of their revenue in the mobile channel is 19 percent.
The survey was conducted in the third quarter of 2012 and it covered more than 600 m-commerce companies. It found that companies are already making some money with m-commerce, but only a few of them generate a significant share of their total e-commerce volume on the mobile channel. The majority makes less than 5 percent, so there is quite a bit of room for improvement.
However, the report also contains a moderate dose of optimism. The share of companies which expect to generate more than 25 percent of their e-commerce revenue through mobile apps is set to increase by 10 percent soon, and within five years 15 percent expect m-commerce will be responsible for more than 50 percent of their e-commerce revenue.
The report also pointed out that there are a number of ways of ensuring more m-commerce revenue, such as social integration, seamless payment and easy access to product reviews. Android and iOS are the dominant m-commerce platforms today, but the relevance of other platforms, like Windows Phone, is said to be increasing.
However, m-commerce will not replace brick and mortar outlets anytime soon. Most products sold through m-commerce solutions are virtual goods, but the technology is there and it could be tapped for other uses as well.
