According to a recent study published by Bitkom, about 10 million Germans regularly use mobile Internet on their mobile devices and this tendency is on the rise. This can be easily explained by the fact that more and more people get to own mobile devices with Internet access – smartphones, tablet PCs, etc. Young people of today who were children yesterday, can`t live without mobile internet surfing and want to be always online. On the other hand, there are more and more traders who sell on the internet, including mobile devices. Obviously, online sales are a unique opportunity to bring goods to customers at an optimum cost.
If you want to enter into the mobile commerce market, you should follow the same rules that are valid for every online shop. These include the following.
– Keep prices low
– Make sure the selection is good
– Organize efficient customer service
– Provide a free return policy
This is crucial for M-commerce success in the long term. It is also important to understand the specifics of mobile commerce compared to electronic commerce. This includes, for example, that mobile users shop spontaneously on the go, or in other cases they do not have a desktop PC or laptop at hand. The following are tips to consider for a successful M-commerce business.
1) Develop a cohesive marketing strategy that will also include a mobile commerce campaign. Your business will benefit when all offline and online marketing tools complement each other. They all have a common goal to increase sales.
2) Adapt your website for mobile devices. Since mobile devices have a smaller screen and can be operated with fingers, the navigation on a mobile version of your website must be as easy and intuitive as possible. Note, that there are many smartphones and tablet PCs as well as different operating systems. Whether you want to market your product through a mobile website or a native app, you should make sure that your marketing tool works well on all devices.
3) Simplify all operations of your mobile store – from the choice of the product on your mobile website through to delivery of goods to the customer. Imagine that you are the one who wants to find something on your mobile website and order. Do you want the goods to be found with a few clicks? Would you be delighted if you needed to fill out any long forms to order? I’m sure you would prefer not to type long credit card numbers but would appreciate a fast and convenient payment system to use. As a customer you want, of course, the goods to be delivered quickly and within the agreed time frame. It is as simple as that.
4) Do you offer mobile users the appropriate selections of goods? Unlikely that you will buy expensive and large goods via mobile devices. The selection of goods on the website and at the mobile web is different. You should also describe the goods in the mobile shop as briefly and informative as possible, so that the mobile users could quickly get a good overview of an item.
5) Offer your potential customers all kinds of incentives and attractive opportunities. This includes those marketing tools as discount coupons and special promotions are opportunities as well as location-specific data and Augmented Reality, which will attract more visitors to your mobile website.
