- TRAP@NCI - National College of Ireland

Transcription

Will Mobile Commerce Become the Dominant Form of Electronic Commerce?
Will Mobile Commerce Become the Dominant Form
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of Electronic Commerce?
Stuart Daly - X09 102281
Higher Diploma in Business in E-Business
- July 2010
Declaration:
I hereby certify that this material, which I now submit for assessment of the programme of
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study leading to the award of a Higher Diploma in Business in e-Business is entirely my own
work and has not been taken from the work of others save and to the extent that such work
has been citied and acknowledged within the text of my work.
Signed:
Date:
Student Number: X09 102281
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to determine if Mobile Commerce will become the dominant
formof Electronic Commerce. First we canexamine some of the factors that are invoked in
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Mobile Commerce, such as the technologies, benefits, common uses of mCommerce, popular
mobile devices. Then we can look at the areas where mobile commerce is expanding at a
rapid rate, firms who .aretaking their mobile presence very seriously and are developing them
accordingly, plus some future advances in mobile technology, all of which will have to
contribute in order to make it the dominant form of ecommerce in the long term.
Table of Contents:
Executive Summary
1.0
Intmductien.
2.0
Literature Review
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(i)
3.0
4.0
Preliminary Data Analysis
3.1
Mobile Commerce Advantages and Disadvantages
3.2
Information Based Mobile Commerce
3.3
Location Based Mobile Commerce
3.4
Mobile Commerce Enabling Technologies
3.5
Mobile Commerce Regulations
3.6
Social Networking using Mobile Internet
3.7
Mobile Banking
3.8
Mobile Gaming
3.9
Mobile Marketing
3.10
Mobile Marketing Case Studies:
3.1 1
Popular M o u e Devices:
Implementation
9.1
'F
(i)
Future of the Internet
(ii)
(iii)
The implementation of 4G networks
LTE Networks
4.2
Demographics
4.3
Prominent ECommerce Companies are Improving Their Mobile Presence
4.4
Social Shopping
4.5
Growth of Mobile Banking:
4.6
Increased Projections in Mobile Sales
4.7
Ways that Bricks and Mortar Retailers are moving into Mobile Commerce
5.0
Future Work
6.0
References
(i) Executive Summary:
Recent years have seen a boom in Smartphone sales, and as a result there are far more people
accessing the internet through a mobile device. This paper seeks to fmd out, if because of
this; Mobile Commerce activity will be increased also a d a m t u a l l y become the dominant
form of Electronic Commerce. To determine this, we d l first look at the various factors that
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comprise the mobile internet, and in turn mcommerce. We can then see how those factors
are evolving and shaping the modem mcommerce world, and how they are driving the future
evolution of it.
1.0 Introduction:
"Mobile Commerce is the one of two-way exchange of value facilitated by a mobile
consumer electronic device (e.g. mobile handset) which is enabled by wireless
technologies and communication networks"
(Mobile Marketing Association, 2010a)
Almost all mobile phones sold today include a colour screen and a way of accessing the
internet. These phones are known as Smartphones, and more people are using their
fkom a Smartphone is the same internet that is accessed from a desktop computer, when it is
accessed h m a mobile device it is known as the Mobile Internet.
The Mobile Internet began in 1998, and WAP enabled mobile phones appeared on the market
around 2000. The concept was not hugely popular at the time due to issues such as only a
limited number of phones having WAP enabled internet browsers, high usage costs, and a
limited number of WAP enabled websites.
(Connectwirelessweb.com,2008)
In February 2007, the Netcraft Web Server Survey found that 108,810,358 distinct websites
exist. Millions of companies are represented by a website but only 700 websites are
compatible with mobile devices. This would suggest that there was a huge potential market
for mobile commerce, which only a relatively small number of businesses were attempting to
exploit. In addition, many websites are accessible by internet compatible phones but for text
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only, which tendered online shopping virtually impossible by a mobile device. This process
has improved a great deal over the last couple of years, helped in particular by a boom in
Smartphone sales led by Apple's $hone. It is common now for enabling online commerce on
a Smartphone, that mobile configured online stores require an-application to be installed on it.
More and more businesses that utilise an eCommerce website are seeing the putential benefits
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+
%
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to their business in the mcommerce world because mobile devices are user friendly,
lightweight, easy to use and easily available to everyone. Mobile 2.0 has been another reason
why firms are looking more to MCommerce, as mobile social networking sites provide an
invaluable method of interacting directly with consumers.
(Troutman, Timpson 2008a)
2.0 Literature Review:
Due to the extremely contemporary nature of this subject, my research has been primarily
been fiom online sources. The increase in internet access from mobile devices, and as a
result, increased activity in mobile commerce has coincided in particular with the release of
the Phone.
various articles and links to further reading are BNET.com, mcommercesolutions.com,
w3.org, m ~ e r c e d a i l y . c o m apple.com,
,
digitaltrends.com, mmaglobal.com and
siliconrepublic.com.
I have also sourced information on the topic from scholarly papers such as "Effective
Optimization of Web Sites for Mobile Access : The Transition from ecommerce to
mCommerce" (Troutman, Timpson) which examines how best to optimise PC based web
sites for mobile phone users, as the number of mobile phone users exceeds that of PC users in
many countries. This paper reviewed several methods, before introducing a method that the
authors had involvement in developing. The advantage of this method was that the same URL
can be used for both standard and mobile based web sites, and they layout is optimised for the
best fit for the connecting device.
Another paper that I sourced information from was called "Future Trends in Mobile
Commerce: Service Offerings, TechnologicalAdvances and Security Challenges" by Ali
Grami and Bernadette H. Schell of the Faculty of Business and Information Technology at
the University of Ontario. This paper researched the futurepossibilities of mobile commerce
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driven by rapid advances in wireless technologies, demand for high-speed access and
interactive multimedia services. Their findings found that highly personalised, location
sensitive, time critical, pin point information presentation will form the basis upon which
mobile commerce services and applications can be built. In order to ensure their future
success, enabling technologies are also discussed, and also security issues.
3.0 Preliminary Data Analysis:
To determine how Mobile Commerce will become the dominant form of ECommerce, we
will first look at some of the technologies and concepts that are involved, such as mobile
internet and mobile commerce enabling technologies, and mobile marketing and advertising.
Some other relevant issues such as common uses of MComrnerce, security concerns, and
popular mobile devices will also be discussed
Some of the benefits of Mobile Commerce include the following:
Ubiquity - the device can be used almost anywhere and the user can access
MCommerce applications in real time.
Accessibility - Similar to ubiquity, the end user is accessible at any time.
Security - Although this is device specific, mobile devices offer a certain level of
inbuilt security. Most mobile phones use SIM cards, which can contain confidential
information about the user such as authentication keys. In this sense, the mobile
phone can almost be considered a smart card reader with smart card.
Localisation - Registered users can be localised by network operators using
positioning systems such as GPS or GSM, and offer services that are location
dependant such as information about hotels and restaurants, travel information, and
other amenities.
Convenience - The size and weight of mobile devices and their ubiquity makes them
an ideal tool for performing personal tasks online, such as social networking or
banking.
Personalisation - As mobile devices are not generaly shared between users, it makes
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it possible to personalize the settings on the device to suit the user's needs and
preferences, for example ringtones. Alternatively, mobile operators can offer
personalized services to customers depending on their own specified characteristics
such as perhaps concert venue tickets or events in the customer's location.
Some of the disadvantages of mobile commerce include the following:
Limited capabilities - Mobile devices offer limited capabilities, such as a small
display. Capabilities can vary a great deal between different models, and end user
services may need to be customised accordingly.
Standardisation - The differences in the wide range of mobile devices, mobile
operating systems, and network technologies has proven something of a challenge for
providing a uniform end user platform.
Security - Due to their size, mobile devices are prone to theft and destmtion
relatively easily. As they contain highly personal and confidential user information
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Eavesdropping - Communicating between the mobile device and network over the air
can be a security risk, in the form of eavesdropping.
(Skul, 2008)
3.2 Information Based Mobile Commerce:
Mobile devices such as PDAs and Blackberries can be used to connect to central systems to
query and update data remotely. To assist this, many of the latest mobile devices have
touchscreens, scroll wheels and even small fold out keyboards, which are more user friendly
for such purposes than the alpha numeric keyboard traditionally found on mobile phones.
Some examples of data exchange include:
Sales people who are based on the road who need real time stock updates and
availability.
Job sheets for maintenance engineers who are travelling between customer sites that
can be displayed on their PDA or mobile phone and updated in real time and
regularly.
Alert messaging, for exarnplehm an IntemetService Provider to a client to notify
them of network outages.
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The above scenarios depend on some key features of mobile commerce, such as the ability to
receive and transmit text based messages, and security features that ensure the message is not
intercepted and the origin of the message verified.
(Businesslinkgov.uk, 2010a)
3 3 Location Based Mobile Commerce:
Mobile phone networks operate through a network of local transmitter masts. Every time a
mobile device sends or receives a message, it sends it through its nearest transmitter. The
locations of the transmitters are known to the network operators, and because of that it is
possible to determine with reasonable accuracy the location of a mobile device. The greater
the density of transmitters, the more precise the location can be pinpointed. For example in a
large city a location can be pinpointed to within 500 metres, but in a rural are with less
transmitters the location area could only be narrowed down to several kilometres.
Determining a mobile device's location provides a commercial opportunity, in that the user
could ask a service provider to suggest hotels, restaurants, car parks, tourist attractions near
their current location. The service provider can find the relevant information, and send it back
to the customer in the form of a message, web link, or even a map.
Mobile devices increasingly include a global positioning system (GPS) capability which
allows more service providers to locate devices with more efficiency and accuracy, and are in
turn able to offer improved location based services.
Businesses are also utilising Bluetooth technology to distribute messages to Bluetooth
enabled devices. A Bluetooth server can detect devices within a 10 to 100 metre range, and
send out messages to potential customers in the vicinity to not@ them of special offers, or
even send out discount coupons, menus, free admission passes etc.
(Business1ink.g0v.uk, 20 lob)
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3.4 Mobile Commerce Enabling Technologies:
WAP (Wireless Application Protocols):
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WAP is an industry initiated world standard, and has emerged as a common communications
technology for presenting and delivering wireless communications on wireless devices. WAP
takes content that is designed for the PCIMAC world, and makes it presentable in the mobile
world. This can require removing some content and fimctionality, in order to make the site fit
the mobile browser. A drawback is that it will remove anything that is not mobile compatible,
which can destroy the usability, intended flow, and brand of the site.
WAP features a micro-browser, access functions, and layered communications specifications
for sessions, transport and security. The WAP Gateway is used to translate the WAP
Protocols into the TCPmP which is the primary internet protocol. Future trends in handheld
devices would indicate that manufacturers will continue to use the WAP protocol.
3G:
3G or 'Third Generation' technology is currently the most predominant standard in mobile
communications. 3G features increased bandwidth and transfer rates to generation one and
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3G networks have potential speeds of up to 3Mbps, which would enable a 3 minute song to
be downloaded in 15 seconds. The high data rates that 3G allows are ideal for downloading
information, and sending and receiving large multimedia files. 3G phones are almost like
mini laptops, and have the ability to accommodate applications that would use broadband on
a desktop computer such as video conferencing, streaming video, sending and receiving faxes
and instantaneous downloading of email messages with large attachments.
(I3usinesslink.g0v.uk, 2010c)
4G:
4G is the 4&Generation of broadband mobile communications. It is not quite fully developed
but is expected to use radio frequency more effectively and in ttlm provide end user with
higher transmission speeds that will support high quality video streaming. When fully
implemented, 4G is expected to enable pervasive computing. In other words, simultaneous
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connections to multiple high speed networks will interchange seamlessly throughout a
geographic area.
Radio Frequency Identification WID):
WID is a generic term for technologies that use radio waves to automatically identify
individual items or some of their attributes. RFID has several advantages over barcodes, such
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as not being required to be line of sight as long as a reader as an RFID tag is within range; the
ability to read a number of RFID tags simultaneously, and every unique item can have its
own RFID tag. The consumer will use RFID readers in their mobile phone to scan WID tags,
perhaps in the packaging of products on store shelves, or to pay tolls and access fees, to
purchase at vending machines and point of sales. With RFID the scanner can read the
encoded information even when the tag is concealed, such as embedded in a products
packaging.
(SearchMobileComputing.com, 2006)
Location Determination:
Network based positioning is carried out by terrestrial systems through various techniques,
such as cell of origin, time of arrival, angle of arrival. This device based positioning is carried
out by satellite, or GPS to be more precise.
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Software Defined Radio (SDR):
This enables r e ~ o ~ g u r a bsystem
le
architectures for wireless networks and mobile devices.
As mobile users move from different networks, design and compatibility problems may occur
with compatibility issues and design problems. SDR will be required in order to provide users
with mobile commerce services under a large number of different networks. This will work
by the received analogue signal being processed by a reprogrammable baseband digital signal
processor in accordance with the wireless environment, but this adds complexity with
analogue radio interfaces with multiple antennas being required. SDR can provide a single
piece of hardware that is at once compatible globally.
Adaptive Modulation and Coding (AMC):
AMC is a method of reducing wireless channel degradation and enhancing performance. It
works by adjusting the bandwidth, signal power, modulation technique in accordance with
instantaneous changes in the channel conditions and quality.
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Digital Signal Compression: Also known as source coding, this reduces the bit rate
requirements or bandwidth demands. Data in the form of texts, s o h a r e and faxes are
compressed using lossless compression, while alternatively video, audio and image files use
lossy compression. With advances in compression, a wider variety of feature heavy
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MCommerceapplications and possible lower service costs can be provided.
Biornetrics:
Biometrics is a method of authentication which could provide an essential security feature for
mobile commerce. It involves authenticating by using something that the user "is", such as a
finger or palm print, iris and retina pattern or even facial recognition.
(Grami, Schell, 20 10)
The .mobi approach:
Using a .mobi extension on a website is an option to guide potential consumers to a URL that
allows a site to be viewed as it would appear in WAP format. Many retailers have not
purchased their .mobi domain name which causes concern that another company or
individual could purchase the name for their own benefit.
(Troutman, Timpson 2008b)
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IPv6:
The increased volume of mobile internet users has meant a large increase in the number of IP
address leases, which has led to a shortage of IP addresses. IP version 6 is seen as the solution
to this. IP version 6 uses a 128 bit address as opposed to the version it should replace, IP4,
which only uses a 32 bit address. IP6 should ensure that there will always be sufficient
addresses for all mobile devices and tags. It is anticipated that 4G systems will work with
IP6, as 3G systems did
Data Encryption:
Security is a major issue in all aspects of internet transactions; data encryption is perhaps the
best way ofhandhg this. The aim should be to provide a straightforward and inexpensive
method of encryption, that protects authorised users and is difficult enough to be a deterrent
to potential hackers. Without effective encryption, mobile commerce will never fully realise
its potential.
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(Grami, Schell, 2010b)
3.5 Mobile Commerce Regulations:
There are rules and regulations to consider in the area of MCommerce, especially for vendors
who wish to offer services for miero-payments. Micro-paymenhare similar to cash payments
and a M e w o r k has been drawn up for their use in Europe called The EU E-Money
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Directive. While this directive provides a framework for Europe, its implementation is
different from country to country. Licences may be required to implement a new mobile
commerce idea. There are also comprehensive regulations to combat money laundering.
Large amounts of money can be laundered in small amounts if spread quickly over a large
number of electronic transactions.
(Business1ink.g0v.uk, 20 10d)
Common Uses of Mobile Commerce:
3.6 Social Networking using Mobile Internet:
The popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Bebo is a fast
growing trend on both ihe PC bases internet and the mobile web. Social networking by its
very nature is a suited to the world of the mobile internet, as mobile devices are at the centre
of how people communicate with each other whether by phone, text, or email. Added to these
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methods, using Smartphones to access social networking sites is a M e r step.
A survey taken in March 2010 by ComScore Inc, who is a leader in measuring the digital
world, found that 30.8% of Smartphone users accessed social networking sites via their
mobile browser in January 2010. This represented an increase of 8.3% from January 2009. In
particular, access to Facebook via mobile browser grew 112% during this period, while
access to Twitter grew 347%. Interestingly, Facebook's mobile browser audience surpassed
MySpace in February 2009, three months earlier than the Facebook audience exceeded that of
MySpace on the PC based internet in May 2009. These figures also do not take into account
users who access social networking sites exclusively through mobile applications, which is
estimated to be 6 million mobile phone users.
(ComScore, 2010)
3.7 Mobile Banking:
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Will
Mobile Commerce Become the Dominant Form of Electronic Commerce?
Mobile banking involves the use of mobile devices to perform banking transactions and avail
of financial services.
The last time that banking undertook a serious technological progression was the introduction
of internet banking. Internet banking allowed customersaecess to their accounts online my
time. They could check their account details, get statements, perform transactions like paying
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bills, all from their PC. The major advantage of internet banking for customers was that they
were no longer restricted to the opening hours of the bank. The limitation of internet banking
is that it requires a PC and internet access, which in the developed world isn't an obstacle to
most people. Mobile banking addresses this limitation, as it reduces the customer requirement
to just a mobile phone. The advantage that mobile banking has over standard internet
banking, is that it is almost literally 'anywhere banking'. Customers no longer need to be in
front of a PC to access their accounts; they can do so while they are on the move from their
mobile device. The advantages to the banks themselves are that it drastically cuts down on
the costs of providing services to customer, as an electronic transaction is far cheaper than the
average phone or teller transaction. The mobile channel also gives the bank the ability to
offer other banking services such as loans, and credit cards etc to customers who aren't
currently availing of such services.
At the start of the 21'' century, slow internet connections and underperforming terminal
over the last few years, and current mobile technologies provide banks with a transaction and
communication channel that brings real value to their customers.
There are differences globally in how mobile banking operates. The three main services of
mobile banking are electronic account management, mobile brokerage, and financial
information and alerts. The most prominent of these services will differ from country to
country, and depend on three factors: the banking system in the country, the acceptance of
mobile devices for the use of financial transactions, and lastly the cooperation between
mobile network operators and banks.
Mobile banking is generally deployed to mobile devices in the form of mobile applications
that use IVR (Interactive Voice Response), SMS (Short Message Service), and WAP
(Wireless Application hotocol). IVR operates through pre-specified numbers that banks
advertise to their customers, who can then make a call to the IVR number to be greeted by a
stored message and a menu of options. They can then select the option they require by keying
in the corresponding number on their keypad. A limitation of IVR is that it can only be used
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for enquiry based services, such as checking balance, and is more expensive than other
services as it involves making a call which tends to be more expensive than sending a text
message or accessing a WAP site.
The SMS method of mobile banking uses text messaging. This works by the customer
requesting information by sending a text message to a pre defined number, containing a
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service command. The bank responds with a text message containing the specific
information. One particular reason why text based internet banking hasn't become hugely
popular is down to security concerns, and because services provided via SMS are limited to
enquiry based services.
WAP uses a similar concept to standard internet banking, in that banks maintain WAP based
websites which customers access from their mobile device. WAP based sites will have a
similar offering of services to the main internet banking site, and can also implement security
quite effectively.
Standalone mobile applications are perhaps the most suited to complex banking transactions.
They can be tailored to suit the particular device, and enable the implementation of a secure
and reliable channel of communication. Mobile devices must be downloaded onto the client
device before they can be used, but a disadvantage is that they must be customized to the
particular model of mobile device. Mobile applications however an implement a very secure
(TutorialReports.com, 2007)
3.8 Mobile Gaming:
Mobile gaming describes the playing of video games on a mobile phone, Smartphone, PDA,
handheld computer or a portable media player. Mobile Gaming does not describe the playing
of video games on portable games consoles such as Nintendo DS or Playstation Portable.
Mobile games are played using the technology that is on the device, but there are various
common technologies in use particularly in the use of networked games. The first game that
was pre installed on a mobile phone was called Snake, and it featured on Nokia models in
around 1997.The variants of Snake have since become the most played video game
worldwide, with over a billion people having played it.
Some of the technologies in use for networked mobile gaming are text message (SMS),
multimedia message (MMS) or GPRS location identification. Some games are preloaded on
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the handset when they are manufactured, and others can be downloaded over the air or from
the mobile operator's mobile web site.
As camera phones began to become popular with the public, it accelerated the growth in
mobile gaming due to camera phones having greater storage and graphics capabilities than
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their black and white, camera free predecessors. This allowed higher quality games to be
created, and also meant that companies could profit from these games.
Nokia tried to create its own mobile gaming platform in 2003 called 'N-Gage' but this was
not a huge success. Hardware issues were encountered, support was poor, and users did not
find the device a pleasant experience. Today, with the onset and huge global popularity of
Smartphones, mobile gaming is a far better experience. Graphics are about the same as on a
4h or 5m generation gaming console which is impressive considering the game is being
played on a mobile phone.
(Mobilegamesblog.com, 20 10)
3.9 Mobile Marketing:
Mobile marketing is a basically a form of advertising that is communicated to the consumer
through a mobile handset, although there is no exact, commonly accepted definition of
mobile marketing. The Mobile Marketing Association defines it as 'a set of practices that
enable organisations to communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and
relevant manner through any mobile device or network.' This type of advertising is most
commonly seen in the form of mobile web banners that appear when a requested mobile
website is loading. Other methods that are used for mobile marketing include SMS and MMS
ads, mobile gaming ads, and mobile video ads.
Mobile marketing provides businesses with a fast and cost efficient tool for interacting with
their target audience in new ways. Companies can engage with their customers through direct
subscription based ad campaigns and the results are almost immediate. Mobile marketing is
easy to set up and manage, even without anytechnical knowledge and provides a casual and
interactive platform for communication between businesses and consumerg.
Some of the features and benefits of mobile marketing include the following:
The ability to create effective and relatively cheap promotion campaigns at short
notice.
The ability to reach a wider audience in a growing market segment, and the
opportunity to increase market share at little additional cost or effort.
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The personalised nature of messaging can allow a firm to build better and longer
lasting relationships with customers.
The potential to entice new customers while retaining existing ones.
Building brand awareness while penetrating the mobile phone market without having
to spend large amounts on ad campaigns.
Being able to reach out to customers who are on the move, and creating effective two
way communications with them.
New, innovative forms of advertising and promotion can be easily introduced
relatively cheaply.
Delivery of messages is fast and controllable.
Promotional efforts can be launched quickly, in as little as 24 hours.
Response times from targeted customers are also very quick
Mobile marketing provides a means to set up profile groups, and then target those
specific groups.
d
Message deliveries and their responses can be tracked.
Mobile marketing can be easily integrated with a firm's existing marketing strategies.
Mobile marketing can also be easily integrated with other media, for example SMS
promotions can be combined with radio, internet, billboard and television ads.
Immediate delivery is possible in the case of any urgent announcements.
Customers can subscribe to the type of messages which they wish to receive, and
unsubscribe from messages which they do not wish to receive. Allowing consumers
this level of control can make them more receptive to the concept.
Messages can be stored easily, and also forwarded easily which boosts viral
promotion.
Mobile advertising has the potential to become a social media between brands, consumers
and their respective tribes, but needs to consider the following factors:
Will
Mobile Commerce Become the Dominant Form of Electronic Commerce?
Respect of Privacy: Although users require and will seek information, they do not
want to feel invaded by ads. By being relevant and personalised, mobile ads will be as
much as possible desirable information.
User Experience: The respect of the users' privacy is of the utmost importance, and
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undesired messages can be considered intrusive. Consequently it is important that ads
are only delivered when the user is requesting them. Advertisers need to tailor their
approach for the mobile medium, and adopt a customised and one to one marketing
strategy instead of a mass communication strategy. A one to one strategy can allow
for interactive communication with the customer, and get feedback of their
experiences.
Prime Time: Advertising needs to be delivered at the right time within the right
context in order to catch the intended audience. Mobile devices enable an interactive
dialogue that allows the user to be more flexible with their availability, unlike more
traditional media such as TV.Mobile devices allow users to receive ads at almost any
time they are awake, from early morning to late evening which allows far more prime
times to be exploited.
Local Ubiquity: Mobileadvertising needs to work closely with location based
services to be successful. Ads coming from businesses that customers regularly
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Tribe: Advertisers have attempted to take advantage of the idea that users' friends are
their favourite advertisers. Enabling a social ad exchange is a key success factor in
mobile advertising. When users share with a community of family, friends, and
colleagues, they are in a trusted environment and they will accept and take care about
the shared information.
(Cevaer, 2010)
3.10 Mobile Marketing Case Studies:
Case Study 1 - Volkswagen:
Volkswagen AG is a major manufacturer of motor vehicles, with productions sites
worldwide. They recognised the potential of advertising on mobile devices, and engaged with
their advertising partners Beyond Advertising and AdMob to raise awareness of the new VW
Golf. The idea of the campaign was to attract users to VW's mobile site, where they could
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Will Mobile Commerce Become the Dominant Form of
Electronic Commerce?
download a video, screensaver, or other information about the new Golf. This campaign was
focused specifically to customers in Germany, who Vokswagen considered to be a
technically literate audience, across a range of premium mobile sites and applications. The
campaign focused specifically on the network's Blackberry and shone users, who were then
able to connect directly to the V W mobile site. Both VW and Beyond Advertising were very
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pleased with the results of the campaign, which achieved the goal of engaging with a
selection of technically well informed users and raising their awareness of the new VW Golf
via the mobile site. There were more than 25,000 visits to the mobile site, and click through
rates of 1.7%. V W were very pleased with the brand visibility achieved by this, and found
advertising to mobile devices a cost effective and high performance solution.
(Mobile Marketing Association, 2010b)
Case Study 2 - Adidas Originals:
The large sportswear company Adidas decided to pursue a mobile marketing strategy to
promote awareness of their Adidas Originals brand, and drive traffic to their mobile site. In
association with the advertising agency Isobar, and AdMob, they developed a campaign that
was directed at an audience of so called young urban influencers, to develop the brand
associations of originality and self expression with the Adidas Superstars brand. AdMob
other selected users that were taken from downloads and communities channels across sites
in their network. The graphical banner ads and text link ads drove traffic to the Adidas
Originals mobile website, where they were able to select their favourite type of music and
listen to samples from up and coming artists in each genre. They were then able to download
ringtones from the musicians they liked best, view videos of their performances, opt to
receive more ringtones in the future, send their fiiends ringtones, and even enter their post
code to find the nearest retailer that they could purchase Adidas Superstars.
The results of this campaign were that over 290,000 people visited the Adidas Originals
mobile site, with more than 2.9 page views per visitor; More than 100,000 ringtones were
downloaded. The campaign also took on a viral aspect, with more than 10,000 visitors
sending site content to friends.
(Mobile Marketing Association, 2010c)
3.11 Mobile 2.0:
Web 2.0 is a standard that is associated with web applications that promote the interaction of
users*
websites, for information sharing, interoperakdity, user centred design and
collaboration. Users have the ability to collaborate with each other and contribute to the
content of the site in a virtual community, as opposed to earlier standards such as Web 1.0
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%
k-
where users were limited to viewing content only. Mobile 2.0 is about combining Web 2.0
with the mobile device.
Bringing Web 2.0 to mobile devices is about more than simply viewing Web 2.0 sites on
mobile web browsers. To do that all that is required is a mobile browser that is capable of
handling the various technologies that are involved in Web 2.0, such as kTAX and Flash.
Instead, Mobile 2.0 is a combination of the two technologies, which exploits the advantages
of mobile devices.
Mobile devices are different to desktop computers, and Mobile 2.0 websites recognizing this
difference is key to taking advantage of the strengths of mobile devices. The most obvious
difference is that mobile devices have smaller screens, and that users have a different way of
have keypads, mini keyboards and touch screens. Mobile devices tend to always be on and
always be with us. Mobile 2.0 can take advantage of this by sending important updates to our
phones by SMS instead of ernail to our computers. Mobile 2.0 is the recognition that a mobile
device is not a personal computer and should not be treated like one, and is about leveraging
social media with the advantages that come with Smartphones such as cameras and GPS.
(Nations, 2010)
3.12 Security Concerns:
Mobile Conunerce is not possible without a secure environment to operate in, in particular
for online purchasing and other monetary transactions. Some of the main security challenges
include:
The Mobile Device: The mobile device can contain confidential and highly sensitive
personal information which needs to be protected from unauthorised access. The types
of security that can be used in these instances include PIN authentication, secure
storage, and operating systemsecurity.
The Radio Interface: When accessing a telecommunications network, transmitted data
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needs to be protected in terms of confidentiality, integrity and authenticity. Also, the
user's personal data needs to be protected from eavesdropping. Different mobile
network technologies offer different security mechanisms.
Network Operator Inhstructure: Security mechanisms for the user often only offer
protection in the access network, which raises concerns about the security of data
when it is beyond that.
Charges: Customers will be billed for their mobile internet services, and will need to
be assured about correct charging and billing.
Security of mobile applications: The types of mobile commerce applications that
involve payment need to be secure, and also need to have the full confidence of the
consumer, online vendor, and network operators. Both the buyer and the seller in a
transaction will want to authenticate each other before proceeding with a payment,
similarly to how they would in the PC internet world. Consumers will also want
(Schwiderski-Grosche, Knospe, 2010)
3.13 Popular Mobile Devices:
iPhone and Pod Touch:
The Phone is a range of multimedia enabled Smartphones that are developed by Apple. They
were first introduced in 2007, and function as a camera phone, a portable media player, and
have email, internet and Wi-Fi capabilities. Third party applications can be downloaded from
Apple's App Store, which now has over 200,000 applications, all of which must be approved
by Apple. Interaction with the device is through a multi-touch screen, which includes a
virtual keyboard,and they run an operating system called iOS which is a variant of Mac OS
X. Internet connectivity is available through 3G, or can also be done by connecting to a
nearby Wi-Fi network. Connection to a desktop PC through a USB cable is necessary for
synchronizationwith an iTunes Library. The iPad Touch operates in a very similar way to the
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Phone, in that it is based on the same hardware platform and also runs iOS, but it does not
contain some shone features such as voice services, access to cellular networks and a built in
camera.
(Apple.com, 20 10a)
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iPad:
The iPad is a tablet computer that is designed and developed by Apple. It is almost a larger
version of the iPhone, although without voice functionality, as it runs the same operating
system. It can also run the same applications that were developed for the shone in addition
to its own specifically designed applications, and is marketed as a device for the use of audio
and visual media, such as music, video, e-books, and games, in addition to accessing web
content. The iPad is controlled by a multi touch sensitive display, which is different from
previous tablet computers that tended to use a stylus. Wi-Fi or 3G is used to connect o the
internet, and a USB cable is required to sync with a desktop computer by which the device
can be managed.
Reviews of the iPad were generally favourable, but there were criticisms for the price, the
cost of 3G access, and the limitations of only being able to install applications what were
approved by Apple.
(Apple.com, 20 lob)
Blackberry:
The Blackberry is a Smartphone and mobile email device that is designed by a Canadian
company called Research In Motion. The Blackberry has the capability for many standard
Smartphone applications but is known mainly for its functionality as a mobile email device,
and has the ability to send and receive internet email wherever it can connect to a mobile
phone network and this is where the Blackberry initially gained popularity. Early Blackberry
models came with a monochrome screen, but later models have colour displays. Interaction
with the device is through the use of a built in QWERTY keyboard, and a trackball. The
Blackberry uses an operating system called Blackberry OS, which allows wireless
synchronization with corporate email solutions such as Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes
Domino when used in conjunction with Blackberry Enterprise Sewer.
(Blackberry.com, 20 10)
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XDA:
The XDA is a type PDA, (Personal Digital Assistant), which is branded by the mobile
network provider 02. The XDA uses the Windows Mobile Operating System, and provides
both voice functions and the standard PDA functions. Navigation is by the use of a stylus,
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which enters commands by tapping it on the screen. XDAs are more popular for business use
rather than recreational and personal use such as the ZhoneIiPad. Incidentally Windows
Mobile's share of the Smartphone market had decreased steadily in recent years, and is now
the third most popular choice of Smartphone for business use.
(my-xda.com, 2010)
Amazon Kindle:
The Kindle is a device developed by Amazon.com for the purpose of downloading and
reading e-books and other digital media such as RSS feeds and online newspaper
subscriptions. The Kindle is used without a connection to a desktop computer, and content
can be downloaded directly from the internet. It is also possible to copy content in pdf from a
desktop computer via a USB key, or by emailing it to a registered email address provided by
Amazon. At the time the Kindle was launched, there were over 90,000 books available for
download. Amazon also introduced an application that allows Kindle books to be read on an
Zhone or iPod Touch. Sales of the Kindle have so far exceeded the expectations of analysts,
despite the enormous competition that it has from alternative devices.
(amazon.com, 20 10)
4.0 Implementation
MCommerce could be a natural evolution of ECommerce into a digital and mobile world.
What will make MCommerce dominant is the 18-34 demographic, the evolution of high
speed mobile internet and cheaper access to it. The 18-34 age group has grown up with the
evolution of modem technology, the younger end of that demographic will barely even
remember the world before the internet. They are more comfortable with evolving technology
such as Smartphones, mobile internet, and using their Smartphones for online business.
Businesses also recognise the fact that the 18 to 34 age group are the most likely to set trends,
and market a large number of their products towards them.
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A study of US Smartphone users by ComScore has found that social networking leads as the
top gaining category for both application and browser access on mobile devices. In April
2010,69.6 million users accessed an application on their mobile phone which represented an
increase of 28%from the previous year. Several application categories in particular
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experienced triple digit growth over this same time period, which shows the increasing
popularity of this method of accessing mobile content. Mobile banking applications also
more than doubles their audience, growing to almost five million users.
Almost 73 million users used their mobile internet browser in April, which was an increase of
3 1% from the previous year. Social networking was the fastest growing category that was
accessed using this method, which grew 90%from the previous year to reach almost 30
million users. Users that accessed their bank accounts through their mobile browsers were up
69%to 13.2 million users.
Mobile commerce can certainly become the dominant form of ECommerce in the future for
the likes of social networking and online banking. Many businesses are recognizing the
potential of mobile commerce and are investing a lot into their mobile websites. It remains to
be seen whether consumers embrace the concept of browsing online stores from a mobile
device more regularly than from a desktop PC, when they are used to the comforts of a larger
screen. For this to gain more market share, and even become dominant it could be
approached in a slightly different way. Stores can utilize location based mobile commerce to
attract more mobile customers, by allowing customers to connect to their mobile site when in
the vicinity of the shop and view items that are in stock specifically in that store, and then
perhaps even purchase online and only enter the physical store so that they can collect their
purchases. Retailers can use social networking sites as another way they can interact with
their customers using their mobile devices.
(Kennedy, 2010)
4.1 Technological Advances:
Mobile phones today have become a single device that is for both communication and
computing. In the future, these devices will have numerous functionalities which will be to
provide for communication, education, entertainment, information and conducting
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transactions. The more features that are incorporated into handheld devices will mean
changes to the design of the device. Devices will become larger, heavier, with increased
weight, power and RAM. This will result in a design trade off between the device's physical
dimensions and its capabilities.
Devices with low power requirements will be small, low cost, light-weight, and will be able
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to be attached to desktop and laptop computers and their peripherals. They will come
equipped with high resolution colour screens that will present pin point information, and
minimise the burden on the user's attention. They will also have features such as simple icon
menus and touch pads. In addition to voice and SMS services, these devices will function as
alarms, clocks, calculators, calendars, timers, radios, TVs, MP3 players. They will have
always on, access to the internet as well as to other networks and other wireless devices.
While connected, they will function as virtual keys, secure ID cards, digital cash, tag readers,
remote control devices, pagers, and be able to get e-books, e-newspapers and e-mails.
Although the use of data, in particular multimedia, continues to accelerate, voice remains the
primary form of communications. Talking or listening provides hands and eye free operations
and is also several times faster than typing or reading text messages. However, conveying the
same information by typed text requires less bandwidth than spoken words, which is why
SMS messaging is so popular. As voice, video, keypad and pen can all be used as a method to
input, and text, video and audio can represent output formats, a number of I/O enabling
technologies could possibly be incorporated into mobile devices. These could include speech
recognition software to convert spoken words to written texts, speech synthesis software to
convert emails to intelligible speech, voice activation software that brings voice control to
navigating websites, and perhaps also optical character recognition, which converts
handwritten text to a typed format.
The device will need the ability to communicate with anyone, anytime, and anywhere. This
will be facilitated by global mobility, international roaming and seamless connection to other
networks. For this, the devices will need to be multi-band and multi-functional.
(Grami, Schell, 20 10c)
(i) Future of the Internet:
A survey on the future of the internet performed in 2008 by the Pew Internet and American
Life Project of 578 internet leaders, activists and analysts had some very interesting fmdings
relevant to the future of MCommerce.
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Key findings in summary:
By 2020, the mobile phone is expected to become the primary device of internet
access (77% agreed)
Major technological advances will mean an improvement in voice recognition and
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touch user interfaces (64%)
The structure of the internet itself will be improved by next generation research (78%
agreed)
It is expected also that the divisions between personal time and work time, and
physical and virtual reality will be blurred further (56% agreed)
(PewInternet.org, (2010)
(ii) The implementation of 4G networks.
3G systems which are the current standard need smaller cells which results in more base
stations and higher system costs, the higher costs a result of their flash memory, RAM, and
frequency and baseband chips. 2G and 1G systems will continue to exist because it is not
very economical to deploy 3G in large rural areas.
4G systems will aim to seamlessly integrate all wireless mobile networks, and will be the
platform for all mobile systems. This is a different direction to the one taken by 3G systems,
which focused on developing new systems and hardware. 4G will be all IP based multimedia
services in various, non-identical networks that will allow users to use any system at any
time, anywhere. This provides a new challenge to the mobile industry, in which the
fragmentation of the market should be minimised and enable seamless interoperability. 4G
devices will need to be multi-band, multi-functional and be able to handle various types of
content The primary 4G systems objectives over 3G systems objectives include higher
transmission rate, larger capacity, ubiquitous single device, increased coverage, single billing,
highquality of service, and lower system costs will mean that 4G will play a major rolein the
next generation of mobile commerce.
(Grami, Schell, 20 1Od)
(iii) LTE Networks:
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Wireless internet up to 100 times faster than DSL should be available in Germany by the end
of 2010. A bidding process is now underway in Mainz for an airwave frequency of 800 MHz
that has long been coveted for its long range of 30 kilometres. Such frequencies are suitable
for a new generation of wireless data transfer, which is expected to bring multimedia content
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to mobile devices at rates of up to 100 times faster than standard DSL internet.
These frequencies have come about as part of the so called 'Digital Dividend' which came
about as German TV channels switched to a digital format over the last few years. A new
technological standard called 'Long Term Evolution' (LTE) is available and this is expected
to revolutionise the mobile internet. The high speeds that LTE networks provide could greatly
enhance the areas of mobile gaming and video downloads. Video streaming will be delivered
to mobile devices in high definition, in effect the internet experience from home PCs will be
replicated to mobile devices.
LTE networks are designed specifically for data transfer, which speeds it up a great deal. It
has a much quicker reaction time, and LTE phone conversations are transferred in the form of
digital data packets. LTE also supports 'self organizing networks', which is when a new base
station automatically connects to the network after set up. This w
ill make it easier for
wireless service providers to expand their networks.
The number of mobile users has expanded rapidly in the last number of years, and this new
technology is needed to supply a growing demand for mobile data.
According to Erich Zielinski of Alcatel-Lucent, whose company have a live test network in
Stuttgart, the public will not have to wait long for LTE compatible devices to become
available on the market. Zielenski says that the development of the network inhstructure
and the end user devices goes hand in hand, and that his firm have set up their LTE
development programme in such a way that they are ready to begin rollout of LTE
compatible mobile devices once the auction process for the new frequencies has concluded.
In Diisseldorf, the public broadcaster W D R collaborated with Vodafone in a project to test
LTE signal strength in areas affected by heavy wireless traffic. W D R believe that LTE is a
technical advancement that is necessary to keep up with the ever changing pattern of media
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consumption. According to Ruediger Malfeld of WDR, it is certain that many of the uses of
Smartphones will become more intensely used forms of media distribution, such as watching
streaming daily news or watching videos on Youtube. Other areas that are expected to benefit
from LTE are the mobile gaming industry, and wireless advertising, because of LTE's quick
reaction times and fast transfer rates.
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(Dw-world.de, 20 10)
4.2 Demographics
A survey done by the Mobile Marketing Agency has shown that the age 18-34 age group is
driving mobile commerce. The report centred on the results on the latest UK, French, and
German Mobile Consumer briefings for mobile commerce. It was found that the UK has the
highest number of consumers that are participating in mobile commerce, followed by 13% of
Germans and 9% of French. The heaviest users of mobile commerce are the 18-34 age group,
with 29% of British consumers in this age group making transactions during the surveyed
time period, and also 21% of Germans and 15% of French making transactions also.
The respondents to the survey used their mobile devices to purchase mobile content, goods
and services, in addition to other mobile content. The consensus was that transactions were
quick and easy. The consumers that were surveyed across all age groups showed a keen
interest in performing mobile transactions in the future, which demonstrated that there will be
clear market opportunities for mobile commerce as a convenient method for consumers of
making transactions. However only half of respondents felt that their transactions were secure
and trustworthy, which could perhaps be alleviated by educating existing and potential
consumers about the security of mobile payments and address concerns.
The key findings of the survey were:
The most common form of mobile commerce is the purchase of content for mobile
phones such as ringtones and applications.
Purchases were not entirely restricted to mobile content.
The mobile internet was the most commonly used medium for mobile commerce
overall, accounting for around half of transactions.
The most popular way for consumers to pay for mobile content was to be billed by
their service provider.
Digital payments facilities such as Paypal appear to be growing in popularity,
particularly when the transaction did not involve mobile content.
The respondents based in the UK showed more interest in using mobile commerce in
the W e , than those respondents inGermany or France.
The respondents in all three countries said that they were most likely to make mobile
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commerce transactions to use discounts, coupons of loyalty points over the next year.
According to Dr Peter Johnson of Market Intelligence for the Mobile Marketing Agency,
mobile commerce is beginning to change the retail landscape. The rapid increase in the use of
Smartphones and the use of app stores has provided a platform for mobile commerce to
develop, and this development will continue to accelerate over the coming years as
consumers see the benefits and convenience of mobile commerce and become more
comfortable and confident in the security of the transaction. Dr Johnson also said that he
believes it is possible that mobile commerce will become the dominant form of transactions.
The research shows that not only is there is a huge potential market for the expansion of
mobile transactions, which is not only limited to mobile and internet transactions but also to
transactions that a consumer might traditionally conduct in person.
(MhMGlobal.com, 20 10)
4.3 Prominent ECommerce Companies are Improving Their Mobile Presence:
Certain firms are also actively putting a lot of resources into their mobile presences. Amazon
and EBay are two such firms who are experienced large sales from mobile devices. It is
interesting to note that both Amazon and Ebay are pure internet only operations, neither
operate physical stores or any "Clicks and Mortar" type operation so can't benefit from
location based mobile commerce in the same way that such types of organizations can.
Amazon have seen sold more than $1 billion worth of products globally in the twelve month
period up to July 2010, from orders made from mobile devices which also include the Kindle
e-book reader. In the future Amazon also see mobile sales genemted by tablet computers as
becoming a credible generator of revenue. EBay have already projected mobile generated
sales as being between $1.5 billion and $2 billion for 2010. In 2009 they generated $600
million from mobile commerce, with 75% of that came fiom iPhones.
Amazon has an advantage in the mobile shopping field, as they have patented a technology
called "One-Click Shopping" which is ideal for mobile devices. This system works exactly as
it sounds, with one click to c o n f i i an order and complete a transaction after logging into the
site. Someweb browsers will cache a username and password also so loggingin may not
even be necessary on each visit. It has been indicated that shoppers don't like to scroll or
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click too many times on a Smartphone, with the obvious reason being because of the smaller
screen. Amazon has strived over the years on their main ECommerce site to provide
frictionless shopping, and they are trying to replicate that on their mobile site.
Amazon also believe that that mobile shoppers do not have the time or the inclination to
thumb through a large number of pages on mobile sites or applications, that mobile shoppers
will visit their site with an idea formed of what they are looking for. That is why the search
page is prominent on the Amazon mobile site. Browsing has become to an extent,
synonymous with searching.
Another interesting pattern has developed on Amazon's mobile site, that consumers are
placing orders at all times of the day. This factor alone will be crucial in influencing the
future growth of mobile commerce, and the attitude that retailers take to their mobile sites. If
any time mobile shopping becomes entrenched behaviour among consumers, then traditional
bricks and mortar retailers along with established clicks and mortar operations will feel
threatened People carrying mobile devices will be potential customers at any time of the day
or week, no matter what activity they are engaged in. Rush hour commuting times, which
traditionally a quiet time for traditional ECommerce sites and physical stores, could become a
peak time for mobile shopping, as consumers pass the time while travelling or waiting for
buses or trains. Retailers will not want to lose revenue from such a potentially lucrative
market and will develop their market their mobile internet presence accordingly. Amazon has
also integrated its mobile ordering process with its existing ECommerce operation, in that it
has integrated it with the existing order management, warehousing, fulfilment and shipping
operations.
A final reason why Amazon has such a successful mobile commerce operation is because
price often is more important to consumers than brand loyalty, and Amazon has always
offered prices that few of its competitors could equal. When a low pricing structure is added
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Will Mobile Commerce Become the Dominant Form of
Electronic Commerce?
to the rest of the factors, it is clear that Amazon have a very good mobile commerce model.
Since their ECommerce site was a huge success in its own particular field, and influential to
the wider world of online shopping, perhaps its mobile commerce model will be equally
influential in the mobile internet world and encourage more businesses to court mobile
business.
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(Khan, 2010)
4.4 Social Shopping:
Another growing trend in mobile commerce which will help it to eventually become
dominant is the area of social shopping. The huge popularity of Smartphones has brought
about a huge increase in the access of social networking sites through a mobile browser;
Facebook reported a 112%increase and Twitter a 347% increase between 2009 and 2010.
This added to the growing familiarity and comfort of users with mobile commerce has meant
that consumers are adding a communal aspect to mobile shopping. Consumers want to have a
mobile shopping experience that has the feel of social networking that adds such things as
%ends, groups, voting, comments and discussions. According to a report by Yankelovich
Research, 65% of consumers trust their fiiends over experts and celebrities, so to recognise
and accommodate this factor the mobile shopping experience will need to be a mobile social
shopping experience adding a communal exchange of information to the process. Consumers
will be able to interact with each other before, during, and after the purchase, sharing
photographs of products and product reviews and recommendations. Mobile social shopping
will provide retailers with an effective brand awareness opportunity, but for maximum
effectiveness it will need to have uniformity across mobile hardware platforms. In other
words, the experience should be the same for every user, regardless of the model of
Smartphone which they are using.
(Stewart, 2010)
4.5 Growth of Mobile Banking:
Mobile Banking is another area that is set to accelerate in growth over the next few years, and
in turn help the dominance of m & b commerce in general. According to a report by Berg
Insight, the amount of consumers that use mobile banking and related services globally will
grow to 894 million in 2015; this is up 59.2%from 2009. In the United States, the rising
popularity of mobile applications and the familiarity with SMS text messaging are helping to
31
increase mobile banking services. As smaller banks follow large banks in offering mobile
services, this growth is expected to accelerate further still. There are still only around 1,000
banks out of 30,000 financial institutions in the United States that offer mobile services.
There is an effort by leading companies in both the financial and telecommunications
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industTy to bring banking and financial services to the "unbanked" population of the world.
Asia-Pacific is expected to become the most important regional market, accounting for more
than half the total user base. Mobile banking is expected to play an important role in bringing
these financial services to new customers in the Middle East and Afr-ica, as mobile handsets
are seen as the perfect method of engaging with customers in emerging markets.
Money transfer is another area within Mobile Banking which is undergoing significant
growth. According to Berg Insight, between 3 and 15% of international money transfers will
be carried out using mobile devices by 2015 and this is estimated to generate up to $6 billion
in service revenues.
(tmcnet.com, 20 10)
4.6 Increased Projections in Mobile Sales:
It has been forecasted by ABI Research that by 2015, shoppers in the United States are
expected to spend $1 19 billion on goods and services from their mobile devices. Mobile
shopping in the US increased from $369 million to $1.2 billion between 2008 and 2009, and
in 20 10 is expected to reach $2.4 billion. This rapid rate of increase in mobile shopping has
been accredited to the boom in Smartphone sales and the resultant enthusiasm among
consumers for mobile internet. Digital coupons have also proved popular, plus using mobiles
to pay for small goods such as tickets. The Japanese market is already very strong and
currently has a mobile shopping market worth $10 billion.
(Leggatt, 20 10)
4.7 Ways that Bricks and Mortar Retailers are moving into Mobile Commerce:
When developing a mobile commerce strategy, a retailer will need to consider a number of
fast changing technologies such as social web and payments, with possible little previous
experience of the mobile marketplace.
According to Jason Taylor, of mobile web development company Usablenet, the way to do
this is to focus on the customer. Three years after the launch of the iPhone, companies are
finally learning how best to leverage the Smartphone. Usablenet have worked with several
large US firms in varying fields, to develop their mobile commerce strategy. Companies such
as American Eagle, American Airlines, Sears, Amtdc, and Bloomingdales. According to
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Taylor, this is what is currently happening in mobile commerce:
80% of clients opt for mobile websites instead of apps for Smartphones: Many
companies want to add a mobile app strategy to their mobile web presence, but the
majority of f m s simply want to develop a mobile website. The reason for this is a
successful mobile experience is one that works for all users, no matter what mobile
device they are using.
Retail companies with an established brick and mortar presence want two things fkom
their mobile Web presence: The first thing that retailers want is a replacement for
desktop web, as the primary features on the main website accessed from desktops will
need to be mobile compatible. The second thing that retailers want is the component
of location. Whether a customer is on the move of standing in a store, the retailer
wants to be able to thin out the top mobile features depending on how close they are
to the brick and mortar store. A good example of this is allowing customers to receive
coupons through their Smartphone, so that they have to physically come into the store
to use them.
Feature parity across platforms and keeping cost down: Applications are not easy to
replicate across differing models of Smartphones, for example an application that is
popular and user friendly on the Phone may not translate so well to the Blackberry.
Also local features need to support GPS and other location based elements but also
have mass market capability so the cost structure is consistent across platforms.
Retailers want users on their apps when they're inside the store: A relatively unique
feature of mobile commerce is that it supports both the online environment and the
real world one. Many large retailers with a traditional bricks and mortar stores are
keen for mobile consumers to bring some of their web knowledge into the actual
store, such as reviews, gift registries and mobile gift cards.
Retailers could go further still with location based notifications: A further step in the
evolution of location based mobile commerce, islocal notifications that are based on
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GPS locations. An example of this would be opening the mobile site inside the store
and the application downloads content specific to that particular store such as current
special offers.
Mobile users are taken very seriously: A number of retailers have surveyed the
number of visitors to their website and found that around 5 to 7% are mobile users,
and that 3 to 5% of revenue is coming ffom mobile users. So based on this, they
acknowledge that it is a genuine revenue channel and that they should spend more
money developing it futher.
The most forward t h i i g strategies take into account that a user is just one node on
a personal social network that influences their decision making: Some retailers, who
are serious about catering to a mobile audience, are those who have target markets
within a younger age group. These retailers see mobile commerce as a long term
strategy, in that mobile media is the best way to reach the influencers of a purchase. A
mobile market is an effective way to reach out to a young demographic, in that it can
allow kids to influence the way their parents and indeed their peers make purchases.
(Dannen, 2010)
5.0 Future Work:
Based on the research and projections in this paper, Mobile Commerce is set to become the
dominant form of Electronic Commerce over the coming years. This is fuelled by a number
of factors, such as convenience of use for users, confidence in device security, technological
advancements, and firms directing their resources to promoting their online branding.
For future referencing of the evolution of Mobile Commerce, W3C's website at w3.org can
be read for updates. W3C are an international community where a wide range of people fiom
34
member organisations, full time staff, and the general public work together to improve web
standards including mobile web standards.
Another organisation that can be referenced for updated Mobile Commerce information is the
Mobile Marketing Agency, their website is at rnmaglobal.com. The MMA are an organisation
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that seek to establish guidelines and best practices for purpose of marketing through the
mobile channel.
6.0 References:
1. Bushesslink.g0v.uk, (20 10a) "Information-based mcommerce
services"<http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?r.s=m&r.11=1073 8611
97&r.lc=en&r.13=1075386889&r.12=1075422789&r.i=1075386967&type=RESOUR
CES&itemId=107538710l&r.t=RESOURCES> accessed on 03-06-2010
2. Businesslink.g0v.uk, (2010b) "Location-based m-commerce services"
<http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?r.s&r.l1=1073861197&r.lc=
en&r.13=1075386889&r.12=1075422789&r.i=1075386960&type=RESOURCES&ite
dd=1075386967&r.t-RESOURCES> accessed on 03-06-2010
3. Businesslink.g0v.uk, (2010~)"M-commerce technologies"
<http://www.businesslink.gov.uMbdotg/action/detail?r.s=m&r.l1= 1073861197&r.lc=
en&r.13=1075386889&r.12=1075422789&r.i=1075387101&type=RESOURCES&ite
mId=1075386960&r.t=RESOURCES> accessed on 03-06-2010
4. Business1ink.g0v.uk, (2010d) "M-commerce regulations"
<http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detai1?itedd=1075387286&type=RES
OURCES> accessed 03-06-20 10
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- TRAP@NCI - National College of Ireland

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