M-commerce Websites - A Smart Future with Brick technology

A study conducted by leading British Financial Services organisation Barclays has proved, if further proof were needed, that the m-commerce revolution is continuing to grow at an unprecedented rate. The recently-published study predicts that, within the next decade, British customers will collectively spend in excess of £19bn using mobile devices.

Commenting on the study, Head of Retail & Wholesale from Barclay Corporate Richard Lowe said, “..with little new shop space coming into play, the real growth opportunities lie on the virtual high street”. He then went on to warn retailers who were not prepared to invest in mobile technology to represent their business online would soon find themselves at a ‘significant’ disadvantage to companies that are.

According to the Barclays Corporate Report, mobile websites and their use will grow by at least 55% over the next five years, remarkably quicker than any other channel of retail. In part, this is driven by the ever-increasing availability of smartphones and tablets as well as the growing proliferation of NFC and 4G technology.

The high street store, though no longer enjoying the immense popularity of previous years, is still of major significant importance to retailers but this certainly does not mean that they can afford to ignore the m-commerce revolution. Customers will often use a variety of channels before making a purchase - particularly with high-level customer interaction items such as shoes and clothing, many customers still prefer to visit a shop directly.

However, the results of the Barclays report show that over half of customers used their mobile device at some point before making an instore purchase, for instance carrying out product research, checking price comparisons and reading online customer reviews. Retailers who carry out a significant portion of their business in a physical store benefit from m-commerce systems as a ‘multichannel integrator and a boost (to the store) by connecting them to the online world’, according to Richard Lowe.