subject: Mobile Commerce Tips and Techniques [print this page] M-Commerce which is short for mobile commerce is a phenomenon that has been prevalent in much of Europe and Asia, but is only recently beginning to achieve notoriety in the United States and Canada. With the emergence of 3G networks, smartphones, and other technologically advanced handheld devices, it is now becoming more and more popular to shop with a mobile. There are literally millions of people using phones with internet capabilities and they are learning to do all of their normal online activities on their portable devices. The amount of people that are replacing old fashioned online shopping and purchasing with the mobile alternative is increasing daily. Eventually the day will come when almost all transactions are accomplished with mobile devices.
Mcommerce started becoming somewhat mainstream with the emergence of ringtones, mobile apps and games. Users can search for their favorite songs, cool applications that are compatible with their phone and games which can be played with their handheld devices. Then they can buy these things directly with their phone and download it right after the transaction is complete. Now m-commerce is beginning to become much more popular and people are beginning to purchase tangible products in addition to items that can be downloaded. Mobile online shopping is becoming more reliable and convenient than ever. As a matter of fact, a number of people go into retail stores, find something they want, take out their phone and search for the exact product online for price comparisons. If the online price of the product is less than the one in the store, chances are the person will purchase the item immediately online with their mobile phone. This kind of impulse purchase is a form of instant gratification for the customer and great for your business.
If you are a business owner with a web presence, you may think that your online store is already fully mobile compatible. You would be wrong, as a matter of fact you will need to create an entirely different version of your original site in order to accommodate the smaller screen. If you want your customer to find you using their phone and make a purchase, then you must make sure they have a good shopping experience. With a normal website, navigating web pages to look at the full size images of products and their descriptions on a mobile device is a very frustrating experience. The user has to not only scroll up and down, but also from left to right in order to catch all the details. On top of that, going through each step of the checkout process and actually finishing the transaction can be even more painful. If you optimize your online store to take advantage of mcommerce, it not only fits your product images and descriptions to the smaller screen, but also creates a seamless checkout process. Whether you are surfing the internet on your computer or using your mobile device, it can be easily detectable exactly which version of your e-commerce store should be displayed, allowing both versions to work simultaneously.
There are several advantages that come with making your online presence fully mobile compatible. There are a lot of clever ways to start a marketing campaign geared towards your mobile users. It's easy to think of some innovative and creative ideas to target people with mobile phones. If you are able to have fun with it and allow your potential customers to have fun with it also, your marketing campaign will be able to become a viral hit. Some simple mobile commerce marketing tips include providing exclusive coupons for mobile users, announcing one time only sales on your products making it impossible for anyone to resist impulse buys, and even creating contests or giveaways for people via text. There are a number of different ways to use the technology to increase your customer base.
Your main lesson should be to act now! Do not wait until all of your competitors have already caught on to jump on the mcommerce bandwagon. Be among the first movers and shakers to take advantage of this incredible opportunity. If you position your business the right way, it can mean years of continued growth and sustainability over the other guys.
