How to Setting Up a Successful M-Commerce Strategy

Did you know that 72% of global transactions in 2021 were made via mobile devices, compared to only 5% of sales in 2012 (Statista)? Mobile commerce has now become an essential sales channel when it comes to setting up a successful commercial strategy for e-commerce activities.

In this article, Eminence explains the factors that have contributed to m-commerce’s rapid success and the benefits it will bring to your business. We will also take a closer look at the key points to consider when it comes to developing of your m-commerce offer. Finally, we’ll tell you what sales and marketing trends you should adopt to maximize your sales.

What is mobile commerce or m-commerce?

M-commerce, also known as mobile commerce, refers to purchases and sales made via wireless technologies and applications linked to mobile devices, such as smartphones. The term appeared in 2012. M-commerce is therefore a sub-segment of e-commerce, which represents all transactions carried out on the Internet.

Key figures for mobile commerce

According to a study by Hootsuite and We Are Social in 2022, mobile sales account for 60% of global Internet traffic, compared to 38% for desktop computers and desktops. Now 92% of users worldwide surf the Internet via their mobile phones, which equates to more than 5.2 billion people.

With this high level of mobile equipment, e-commerce sales will continue to grow in 2022. Let’s take a closer look at some impressive numbers related to digital sales and its impact:

$5.4 trillion: this is the worldwide e-commerce turnover that continues to grow rapidly according to Statista. It should even peak at $7 trillion in 2024!
$422 billion: this is the number of sales made through m-commerce
$2.4 billion: is the projected number of sales made via m-commerce in 2030 according to the Global Strategic Business Report
Evolution of the global e-commerce turnover between 2014 and 2024

In Switzerland, e-commerce generated a turnover of CHF 32 billion in 2021, half of which was related to the purchase of products, with textiles in the lead, according to the Nexi report. Most purchases are ordered from local e-commerce sites, but can be made from foreign sites based on price (56%), availability (42%) or choice (31%).

By way of comparison, the French spent almost €147 billion on the internet in 2022 (+13.8%), for the equivalent of 2.3 billion transactions and an average basket of €65 (source: FEVAD). It should be noted that sales of products fell by 7% (post-Covid effect following the boom of 2020-2021), while service of sales rose by 36%, thanks to the travel and leisure sectors.

It is also important to highlight the high penetration rate of second-hand goods, which rose from 14% to 41% between 2017 and 2022, for economic reasons, but also and above all for their sustainability and ecological character (source: FoxIntelligence).

Online heavy shoppers are made up of Internet users of Generation Y (born between 1984 and 1990), since they alone account for 20% of online shoppers for 2/3 of the sales made in France.

Factors favouring M-commerce

Buying on the Internet has become as common as shopping in a store. All sectors of activity are now affected, be it automotive, beauty products, textiles, insurance or even your meals.

There are many reasons for the success of online sales:

Practicality: to be able to order from where you want, at any time and be delivered to the place of your choice.
Speed: just a few clicks, no need to move around, undeniable time savings for 3 out of 4 shoppers.
Diversity of the offer: a huge choice in a catalogue that has become international, whether new or second hand, with customer reviews for reinsurance.
Price and ease of comparison between websites and physical stores; a criterion all the more important in times of inflation. Frequent promotions encouraging purchase.
Security of transactions.
Strengthening and quality of services: free returns, fast deliveries with different options, chatbot, multi-payment, warranties, after-sales, etc.

Why should you embark on m-commerce?

Are you wondering if you need to expand your m-commerce business to reach mobile phone users? Here are all the good reasons you should get started and the benefits you could get:

- A larger catchment area and a tenfold audience that you can reach.
- The possibility of sales 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
- Improved customer satisfaction, thanks to the instant.
- Collecting data from your buyers will allow you to create a relationship with your customers and build their loyalty.
- Receptive potential customers: Mobile is the preferred source of information for obtaining information about a product or service.

Points of vigilance when embarking on M-Commerce

Going into e-commerce involves a series of decisions to make: study, analyse, design, test and deploy, which can be called mobile thinking.

What are the steps involved in the implementation of mobile commerce?

Step 1. Identify your needs and define your strategy

Before you embark on m-commerce, you need to ask yourself all the questions about your projects and that affect all spheres of your business. We can offer you a non-exhaustive list to help you in your thinking, according to the QQOQCCP method:

WHO?

What are your targets, your personae? Are you responding to a need?
Who are your suppliers, your intermediaries (delivery, bank, marketplaces)?
Who are your service providers for IT development, design, communication?
What is your team, what roles to expect and how many people you plan to recruit in relation to your ambitions

WHAT?

What are you going to sell? What is the range?
What are you going to sell? What is the range?
Do you plan to diversify in the longer or shorter term?
What ancillary services can you offer?
What will be the general terms and conditions of sale?
Are there any risks for you or your customers?

WHERE:

Where will you be based? Where will your storage location be?
Are you going to sell your offer only on your website or app, or also on marketplaces, physical locations?
Is your ambition local, national, international?

WHEN?

When would you like to start? What is your roadmap?
Is your activity permanent, one-off or seasonal with peaks?

HOW?

How will the supply, the preparation of orders, the organisation of deliveries and returns, the after-sales take place?
What tools, software do you need for your accounting, real-time inventory management, etc.
How are you going to make yourself known? What is your communication strategy?

HOW MUCH?

What budget is needed to develop your website or application? To finance the activity?
How much can you invest or will you need to borrow?
How much will it cost to organise upstream and downstream logistics?
What is your only profitability? How many products or services will you have to sell for this?
Is this activity viable?

WHY IS THAT?

What motivates you?
Is this a side selling method?
What are your short-, medium- and long-term ambitions?
5W & 2H

Step 2. Choosing the right support to develop

Among the various options available, you can choose between:

• Create a dedicated mobile app: its usefulness should be defined according to your strategy.

The +: fully mobile-friendly, possibility to send push notifications

The – : requires a download on the part of the user, high development budget and must be adapted to the 2 operating systems (Android and iOS)

• Develop a mobile version of your website, specifically designed for smartphones

The +: optimized browsing experience, its development can be done at a later stage

The -: high cost, as this entails additional development and maintenance costs

• Design your website in a responsive and “mobile first” way, which will automatically adapt to the screen size of smartphones or tablets

The +: reduced cost because a single development is required, time savings, SEO optimization for search engines

The – : anticipation is necessary because the decision must be made before the creation of the website, otherwise the content may be less designed for mobile use

Your decision will depend not only on your financial and technical resources, but also on your long-term business objectives. Your stage of advancement will also be decisive, for example if you already have an e-commerce site.

Step 3. Imagine the user journey : the customer journey

Imagine yourself in the shoes of your future users to trace their journey through the sales funnel, in order to create a map experience, unique to each of your personas:

outline all the steps the user has to go through,
assess the emotions he or she may feel during his or her journey,
identify the possible bread points at each stage,
identify the solutions and optimizations you can bring to remedy them.

This step is crucial and indispensable to facilitate the transition to the act of purchase. The aim was to avoid bouncing or abandoning the basket due to frustrations, which could have been identified and corrected upstream. The main reasons for abandoning shopping carts in Switzerland include excessively high delivery prices (24%), postponing the purchase because there was no sense of urgency (19%), technical difficulties or overcomplexity (18%), but also the lack of certain means of payment (15%).

The analysis of the user journey will also save you a lot of time when designing your m-commerce site or mobile application and its various pages, by integrating all the essential elements to:

navigation: Breadcrumb, return, menu, access to your shopping cart, search function,
the design and interface that must take into account your targets,
Reinsurance: clarity of terms of sale, display of warranties, help, after-sales, contact, chatbox, customer feedback, etc.

Step 4. Design and UX/UI Design: the principle of mobile thinking

Nearly 9 out of 10 people think their mobile shopping experience could be better. The first criteria for dissatisfaction are linked to the too small size of texts and links, as well as to security problems. Internet users would also like more information about articles, the possibility to compare products and to be able to consult customer reviews to help or support them in their purchase.

What are the basic rules, applicable to any mobile website aimed at m-commerce:

Accessibility: simple interface and clean design for clarity and a more comfortable experience, text size and format, appropriate contrast for easy readability,
Ergonomics: easy navigation, intuitive and short navigation, thumb-access buttons, sufficient space between clickable elements, search filters
Speed: speed of downloading, especially if the user has a limited network
Forms: give preference to pre-filled forms, whether for account creation, means of payment
Services: make them appear on the product sheet, such as warranties and delivery costs
Delivery: geolocation to offer different delivery options nearby (at your chosen home or location, click and collect, pick-up point).
Design and UX/UI Design: the principle of mobile thinking

Step 5. Test before deploying !

Finally, before it goes online, have your mobile commerce site or M-Commerce app tested by regular users. You will see the blocking points that need to be improved.

Do not hesitate to do these tests regularly when designing your site so that you do not have to redo everything at the end !

What are the trends to consider for your M-Mobile Website

New practices have emerged in recent years and deserve to be integrated into your responsive website or mobile commerce app creation, as well as through your communication to grow your sales.

Brief overview of digital trends in mobile commerce.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is currently booming and regularly makes the headlines in the digital news. In the context of m-commerce, AI stands out through different uses:

It records consumers’ preferences according to their purchases and interests, anticipates their needs in order to make purchase recommendations.
It allows you to integrate chatbots into your site to create a discussion space focused on the most frequently asked questions, thus improving the customer experience.
It is effective in creating content, such as generating product sheets, translating them or writing SEO-optimized texts, favoring your positioning in organic search.

The video

Video media should not be neglected and should appear on your product pages or on your social networks. Buyers prefer to watch a video rather than read a description. It is no coincidence that the tutorials are so successful!

Did you know that almost 2/3 of Internet users placed an order after watching a video of the brand? (Source: Tubular Insights)

Live shopping

Did you know that almost 2/3 of Internet users placed an order after watching a video of the brand? (Source: Tubular Insights)

Social shopping

Le social shopping concerne quant à lui la promotion de produits sur les réseaux sociaux favoris de l’audience visée. L’impact de la communauté et la présence d’ambassadeurs sont importants pour l’attachement à la marque et l’instauration d’un lien de confiance avec elle.

Le recours à des influenceurs est fréquent pour promouvoir des produits, à travers par exemple l’unboxing. Une pratique qui consiste à déballer un produit reçu en direct.

Des réseaux sociaux, comme Facebook ou Pinterest proposent une fonctionnalité shopping, tandis que Instagram vous suggère d’acheter des posts, permettant de créer une liaison directe vers votre boutique en ligne.

The vocal shopping

Social shopping, on the other hand, concerns the promotion of products on the social networks favoured by the target audience. The impact of the community and the presence of ambassadors are important for the commitment to the brand and the establishment of a bond of trust with it.

Influencers are often used to promote products, for example through unboxing. A practice of unpacking a product received on-line.

Social networks such as Facebook or Pinterest offer shopping functionality, while Instagram suggests buying posts, allowing you to create a direct link to your online store.

Selling in the marketplace

Online sales platforms, commonly referred to as marketplaces, exploded in 2021 following the fallout of Covid-19.

35% of leading e-commerce websites sell their products on marketplaces, due to the high visibility they offer, higher conversion rates and additional customer services. The two-thirds achieve 10% of their turnover through this channel.

Do you want to implement a successful m-commrce strategy and achieve your business objectives?

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Conclusion

As you can see, mobile commerce has become a must in any e-commerce activity, since it represents the future of e-commerce. Therefore, you should integrate it as soon as possible for your current or future website developments, in order to promote the growth of your revenue.

Eminence’s teams are at your disposal to discuss your business objectives and offer you web and mobile solutions to achieve them.