Mobile commerce transactions conducted through handsets and tablets will exceed US$3.2trn by 2017, rising from US$1.5trn this year, a new report from Juniper Research suggests. However, lack of mobile site optimisation remains a concern.
Dr Windsor Holden, author of the report Mobile Commerce Markets: Sector-by-Sector Trend Analysis & Forecasts 2013-2017, said a significant minority of retailers have yet to optimise their sites for mobile.
“Unless retailers ensure a seamless, user-friendly mobile shopping experience, they will fall behind competitors who are already using mobile channels to enhance customer relationships,” Holden said.
The report also pointed out that lengthy point of sale (POS) infrastructure replacement lifecycles were hampering near field communications (NFC) deployments in both the retail and transport sectors, with players reluctant to upgrade infrastructure without a demonstrable return on investment.
The increasing popularity of mobile devices for bill payment is reflected in the fact that the mobile banking sector accounts for the lion’s share of transaction values over the next five years, the report reveals.
However, to put global m-commerce into context, total financial transactions in the US alone exceeded US$4.2trn in 2012.
NFC payment image via Shutterstock