UK mobile commerce is on the rise
Juniper Research, a leading market research firm, has released a new report concerning mobile commerce and its continued growth in the United Kingdom. Mobile commerce has already shown impressive growth over the past few years, but its future may be more promising. More consumers throughout the United Kingdom are beginning to rely on their smartphones and tablets for more than just communication and mobile shopping is becoming much more important to consumers.
Mobile payments expected to reach $707 billion by 2018
The report predicts that mobile payments will reach $707 billion by 2018. Mobile commerce is expected to represent 30% of all online retail sales by that time. Retailers are already feeling the pressure to become more mobile-friendly, and many have taken steps to make their websites more accommodating to mobile consumers. Others have taken to developing their own mobile commerce platforms in order to engage consumers in a very specific fashion.
Holiday season proves the power of the mobile space
The 2012 and 2013 holiday seasons have shown retailers that the mobile space can be quite powerful in terms of purchasing power. Retailers are keen to see a repeat of 2013’s holiday season and are preparing well ahead of time for this year. The holiday season is not the only time of the year consumers make purchases, of course, so retailers are expected to bolster their mobile initiatives throughout the entirety of 2014 in order to establish a strong presence in the mobile space.
Showrooming gains traction
The report from Juniper Research also shows that there is an increase in “showrooming,” a trend that involves consumers using their mobile devices to examine products being offered in-store. Consumers are using showrooming to compare products to one another and find better prices on similar products that are being offered by particular retailers. Currently, this trend is most common among tablet users.
