Mobile commerce explodes year-over-year

Industry Insight

If there was any ever question about mobile commerce, a new report from Branding Brand should dispel any concerns. According to the mobile shopping study, smartphone-generated traffic, orders and revenue yielded positive year-over-year growth in the month of April when compared to the same time last year.

Across the selected sample, smartphone visits nearly doubled from 9.6 million mobile guests to 17.8 million in 2014. Mobile orders made via smartphones also skyrocketed comparatively, with 54,066 mobile orders in 2013 to 106,163 this year. Overall revenue driven from mobile platforms also jumped from $5.4 million in April 2013 to $11.8 million in April 2014.

“The triple digit gains we’re seeing in client revenue growth points to the conclusion that mobile commerce is simply exploding,” said Chris Mason, Branding Brand co-founder and CEO. “Smartphones are redefining the way retailers are connecting with their customers, and it’s clearly being reflected in the bottom line.”

Because smartphones are having such a profound impact on the retail landscape, merchants must respond by enhancing mobile shopping channels. This means making the appropriate adjustments to front-end operations (such as redesigning websites to fit the smaller confines of a phone screen – i.e. responsive design), but also making changes to the way they handle mobile orders and other eCommerce operations.

“Smartphones are redefining the way retailers are connecting with their customers, and it’s clearly being reflected in the bottom line.”

Mobile is particularly important when it comes to data collection. Relevance plays an important role in crafting a satisfying shopping experience, and if merchants can’t track customer interactions across smartphones just as they do online and attribute them to the right customer profile, they may not be able to provide consumers with a relevant and consistent experience.

Mobile shopping is blowing up, as the Branding Brand study found. Merchants need to do their best to react to the changes smartphones and tablets bring to the retail industry so they are in a better spot to capitalize on mobile commerce.