In this article, let's figure out how m-commerce works and its prospects in the foreseeable future.
Types of m-commerce
The varieties of m-commerce are rather conditional and depend on the services provided. Here are some examples:
- Marketing. M-commerce allows to increase brand awareness, find new customers and win back old ones. There are plenty of tools for this: from location-based advertising to SMS messages with special offers.
- Catalog. IKEA is one of the best examples here. They created an app where a customer can not only explore the entire range of products and matching items but even try on new furniture for their apartment with the AR interface.
- Games can also be classified as m-commerce in a sense. For example, games about Harry Potter and Pokemon complement the same name universes, help expand their popularity and encourage additional purchases, both within the applications and in real life.
As we can see, m-commerce can be applied to basically any product or service in any area - from online ticket purchases and special offers to spreading a brand around the planet. In this article, we would like to emphasize two of them: online shopping and online banking, as the most common and widespread types of m-commerce.
Online shopping
Online shopping applies to some extent to almost all cases of m-commerce. Selling real or virtual goods and services is the most direct way to make a profit. The main thing is to create a product in demand and convey its necessity to a potential customer.
One of the most common ways to sell products is by listing them on online marketplaces like Amazon or Etsy. Brand promotion is performed using the platform's built-in tools. The seller can combine this option with sales through their own website or application. The latter is especially practical if the company can offer something more than a simple catalog: for example, AR clothes fitting, valuable information, benefit calculators, and so on.
Another growing variety of online shopping is in-app purchases, which provide access to unique content or services. A widespread scheme is to offer part of the services for free, and expand the available range using premium subscriptions. This format is increasing in popularity, allowing customers to acquire services for a reasonable price, and providing companies with a predictable and regular cash flow.
Cross-platform use has become a significant feature of online shopping evolution in recent years. Account data is synchronized on all devices where the user has logged in. Customers may add items to the cart in the application on the phone and pay for it on the site or continue watching a movie on another device from the place where they stopped.
Another variation is a family subscription, enabling several different individuals to use the service on different devices and with their own accounts.
Online banking
Mobile banking has literally revolutionized the industry, allowing millions of people to save time on trips to bank offices.
Banking applications allow customers to seamlessly conduct transactions, track expenses, and access all accounts. For the banks themselves, apps are an outstanding opportunity to provide competitive terms of use for customers and increase income by offering advantageous promotions in collaboration with other companies supplying goods and services.
In addition, by providing personal advice and deals based on the financial behavior of the client, banks increase loyalty, earn a good reputation and acquire new customers.
Some banks managed to get rid of physical offices completely, entirely transferring interaction with customers to applications or websites, often integrating both choices.
Every year more and more people prefer to interact with businesses using mobile devices. Therefore, it is crucial to leverage the power of mobile commerce for promotion and providing services. At least develop a website adjusted for devices and, even better, a branded application.
Consider what value your product can bring to the client, as well as how to convey it to potential buyers. This way, you’ll be able to pick suitable m-commerce mechanisms for maximum efficiency.