Working Out The Kinks Of Mobile Shopping, Same-Day Delivery Makes It Better!

Mobile shopping is becoming more and more a vital aspect of retail business online. The growth of online business during the holidays this year is proof of that. However, many experts feel m-commerce, although it is rising, it still has some kinks that have to be worked out to really cause it to soar like retailers want.

Fortune Magazine reported details on just how shoppers are using the different modes of mobile tech gadgets to shop and many were interesting. Mobile shopping made up 10% of e-commerce in the quarter ending in September. What tech consultants found is that shoppers are not using their smartphones mostly to conduct their online shopping. Many companies envisioned mobile shopping to be easily captured via smartphone, but it's not. In contrast, analysts say it's difficult for consumers to use their smartphone to shop. Forrester analyst Sucharita Mulpuru said in the report, "The smartphone is actually a terrible device to complete a transaction on. There's no question that the tablet is easier."

Tablets are clearly proving to be leading the way. Forrester stated that tablets accounted for 3.2% of all US online retail sales, while smartphones only accounted for 1.5%. More interesting data by Denver online retailer eBags showed 10.8% of tablet traffic and created 10.4% of sales. Smartphone traffic represented 8.4%, however, only accounted for 2.9% of sales. Tablets are similar to having a desktop in your hand and are easier to perform transactions with having bigger screens, buttons, and greater comfort with actual performing transactions. Smartphones appear to be used more so for researching deals, even when inside physical stores comparing prices. Shoppers also will research on their smartphones, and then, make their purchase when they get home.

There are over double the number of smartphones that exist than tablets. EBags is researching how to make the mobile shopping experience more attractive on smartphones by making bigger buttons and eliminating dead spots that receive few clicks. They also want to make it easier to navigate. During Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, online sales had four days of over $1 billion in spending by shoppers. Mobile devices accounted for 16% of all sales during this high time.

Shoppers also want fast delivery from their mobile devices. Retail giants like Wal-Mart and eBay understand this, and in fact, are currently testing same-day delivery for online orders in San Francisco and other US cities. Amazon offers shoppers to have their purchases delivered in one day to Amazon Locker pick up locations and can be picked up easily by the customer. This is another creative way to deliver online products faster.

Same-day couriers like A-1 Express can partner with any retail company and help bring a competitive advantage to their mobile online sales. Your company can utilize a courier to make same-day deliveries of their products online within a 30 mile radius of your business locations and/or distribution centers throughout the US. The Miami courier has a nationwide footprint and can implement a courier logistics solution to fit the direction of your online business. Mobile shopping with your company will be made more attractive when customers see you can deliver what they buy fast.

Reference: 12.21.12, Fortune Magazine, Verne Kopytoff, Surging yes, but mobile shopping still has a long way to go