M-Commerce Is Quickly Becoming a Dominant Sales Channel. Is Your Company Ready?

The mobile-centric sister of E-commerce, M-Commerce is the fastest-growing method for shopping of all kinds. Whether it’s for clothing, food, or even movie or concert tickets, easy-to-use mobile sales platforms are necessary tools for brands that want to keep up with their competitors.It’s easy to see that mobile is the tech sector’s focus of 2015 — more and more, consumers are looking to their phones rather than their computers for the tools to complete everyday tasks, whether it’s organization, communication, budgeting, or in this case, shopping.As brands and developers get better at optimizing for mobile, “M-Commerce,” or mobile commerce, is becoming an increasingly relevant industry, one that companies need to start paying attention to.

Skyrocketing Sales on Smartphones

The percentage of U.S. retail e-commerce dollars spent via mobile device jumped from just 1.8% of the total in 2010’s Q2 to a whopping 15.4% in the first quarter of 2015. The mobile commerce industry is now estimated to be worth over $230 billion, and experts expect that number to grow to $700 billion by 2017.The mobile boom is well under way, and that means users are turning to their phones for nearly everything — especially, it would seem, for making everyday purchases.The stats are striking: Walmart, a huge retailer with a strong mobile platform, has claimed that over 40% of visits to its site in 2012 came from mobile devices. There’s no doubt that the percentage is significantly higher in 2015, as retail brands big and small use more advanced technology to develop apps that only get easier to use.From food to fashion, retailers are quickly establishing their presences on smartphones, and their sales are skyrocketing.

Who’s Ahead of the Game?

Certain companies have done a fantastic job at integrating sales into their already existing apps — especially ones that sell products like tickets, which are easily deliverable via mobile. MegaBus and Fandango, for instance, have mobile apps that not only sell tickets, but also provide a handy, interactive experience — using maps and movie trailers, respectively — for their users.By making it as easy and fun as possible for users to quickly snag a useful product, these companies have increased both their sales and user base significantly.There are obviously other stellar sales apps on the market, like Polyvore, an upscale fashion retailer, the craftseller Etsy, and of course, Amazon, a true jack-of-all-trades in digital sales, according to Venture Beat. By establishing user-friendly mobile platforms, these brands have driven revenue, improved their reputations, and developed a network of satisfied and loyal customers.Any company not investing in establishing a mobile sales platform is falling behind on the accelerating M-Commerce trajectory, and can expect to lose out to their mobile-savvy competitors.Once people find a better way of doing daily activities, they rarely go back — and we’ll all anxiously await even more sleek and seamless mobile sales platforms sure to be popping up across smart devices in the years to come.