Mobile Commerce

Mobile commerce, also known as "m-commerce", is the use of wireless handheld devices like cellphones and tablets, to conduct commercial transactions online, including the purchase and sale of products, online banking and bill paying. The engagement of m-commerce activity is on the climb. According to market research company Forrester Research, mobile commerce sales in the United States were an estimated $153 billion in 2017.

Mobile commerce is an increasingly large subset of electronic commerce, a model where firms or individuals conduct business over the internet. The rapid growth of mobile commerce has been driven by a number of factors, including increased wireless handheld device computing power, a proliferation of m-commerce applications, and the broad resolution of security issues.

The range of devices capable of mobile commerce functionality is growing. For example, digital wallets like Apple Pay and Android Pay let customers make in-store purchases without the inconvenience of swiping cards. And during the mid-2010s, social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram launched "buy buttons" on their mobile platforms, enabling users to conveniently make purchases from other retailers, directly from these social media sites.

[Important: As content delivery over wireless devices becomes more streamlined, secure, and scalable, digital commerce transactions are likely to continue climbing.]

Quick-loading webpages are likely to win more sales, because consumers can be impatient, and they demand instant gratification. Mobile checkouts must let buyers easily enter payment information, preferably with mobile wallets that eliminate the use of manual entry, thereby reducing human error and facilitating a smoother checkout experience.

Mobile applications that use videos to demonstrate a product's key features are likely to generate more revenue. For example, an online foreign exchange broker who sends video links that demo his new mobile trading application, is likely to win more clients.

Consumers typically use Google and/or social media promotions to initiate online shopping searches. Consequently, browsers tend to drive more transactions than mobile applications. For this reason, consumers often pair the use of mobile applications with mobile websites to enhance their overall shopping experience.