Mobile commerce (often referred to as mCommerce) has been gaining acceptance among consumers at a steady rate, for quite a few years now. Experts have been saying that mobile commerce would hold the key to prosperity for retail business giants. A recent multi-market research carried out by the well-known research firm GfK has further proved this belief to be true.
The research, which was carried out among more than 8,500 adults in nine nations including UK, US, France, Germany, and China, showed that more than 60% of the participants believed that paying for purchased consumer goods through mobile handsets was an appealing idea for them.
The percentage was even higher (around 75%, to be precise) among participants who were within the age group of 16-24 years. Also, around 72% of people used smartphones to pay for transactions. This can be explained by the fact that these people are usually most likely to try out emerging technological innovations. Besides, if some technology offers unmatched comfort during hassle-ridden tasks like shopping, then it is obviously even better.
Popular banks are also likely to get their share of the pie called mCommerce. Around 48% of the participants preferred using accounts from top level banks to pay for items they purchased, mainly due to increased security and hassle-free way of carrying out the transactions. If the banks tie up with major retail chains in near future, then it seems we are bound to observe an unbelievable growth rate in the number of shoppers using mobile commerce technologies.
With retail chains coming up with their own mobile commerce websites and mCommerce technology progressing by leaps and bounds with each passing day, this new payment method is bound to catch up to most other methods of transaction in terms of popularity very soon. Combine that with the growing popularity of smartphones capable of taking advantage of that technology, and you have a winning formula bound to rule the market within the next few years.