By 2024, the amount of mobile commerce is anticipated to reach $620.97 billion. Accordingly, mobile devices will be used to make nearly half (42.9%) of all ecommerce purchases. In order to provide a fantastic client experience and lower shopping cart abandonment, it is crucial to pay attention to your website’s mobile purchasing procedure.

Read on to learn the top stats, trends, and best practices of mobile commerce so you can continue to increase your sales and grow your business.

What is mobile commerce?

Mobile commerce, also known as mobile ecommerce or m-commerce, is the process of completing a transaction online via a mobile device. M-commerce is a facet of ecommerce and should be a priority to ensure you’re not falling behind your competition.

Any type of online transaction done via a smartphone or tablet is considered a form of mobile commerce. The most popular type of mobile commerce is making a purchase on a mobile device, but the term expands beyond that as well.

Here are seven examples of mobile commerce that exist today:

• Making a purchase
• Social commerce
• Mobile banking
• Mobile payments/transactions
• Mobile ticketing
• In-app purchasing
• Marketplace apps

Key mobile commerce statistics

Here are some key statistics to help you understand just how important m-commerce is in 2022 and will continue to be in the future.

• 77% of US adults own a smartphone and 53% own a tablet, showcasing the number of potential m-commerce customers.

• Nearly one-third of US internet users used their mobile device to make a purchase each week in 2021.
• Mobile devices made up 58.99% of web traffic in Q2 of 2022.

• 51% of Americans downloaded at least one shopping app to their smartphone at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• 21% of device users access retail shopping apps multiple times a day, and 35% access them multiple times a week.

• 49% of Americans have used a shopping app to compare prices.

Pros and cons of mobile commerce

There are many advantages to mobile commerce, but you must also overcome challenges for your clients. Consider these advantages and disadvantages, then consider how your brand might benefit from mobile commerce.

Pros

There are a number of benefits associated with mobile commerce and offering your customers a seamless experience across their devices.

Convenience

The average American checks their phone 344 times a day, or roughly every four minutes. As a result, it’s really easy to be able to make purchases whenever the mood strikes by simply pulling up an app or website on your phone.

Instant gratification

If you’re curious about why people value quick gratification so much, look no farther than e-commerce behemoth Amazon. The frictionless shopping experience it has produced has given rise to a phenomenon known as the “Amazon effect.” With just a click, free two-day shipping is now an option.

Not every small business will be able to compete with Amazon’s shipping rates, but having an easy-to-navigate mobile shopping experience will help customers feel like they’re able to quickly and easily order something they want.

Improved customer experience

Because they don’t have to adjust their purchasing behaviours to fit your company’s needs, meeting your consumers where they are—on mobile devices—provides them with a better experience and can increase customer retention.Because they don’t have to adjust their purchasing behaviours to fit your company’s needs, meeting your consumers where they are—on mobile devices—provides them with a better experience and can increase customer retention.

More payment options

Customers can now utilise payment methods like Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, PayPal Express, and Visa Checkout in addition to credit and debit cards. Additionally, Shop Pay makes it simple to provide your clients a selection of payment methods.

It is now simpler for your customers to make a purchase on their mobile thanks to these possibilities; all you need to do is make sure your payment site accepts them.

Cons

Mobile commerce isn’t without its challenges. It’s a newer concept, so it can be tricky to ensure a seamless experience—for now.

Continuous optimization

Mobile commerce is no different from other technologies in that they are always changing to improve both consumer and company experiences. To keep your mobile website or app user-friendly, you must constantly upgrade it.

Investing in an ecommerce CMS like Shopify’s is a great way to make sure your website is always up to date with the latest optimizations.

Long load time

The speed at which your page loads has a significant impact on whether or not mobile users can access your website. A year’s worth of ToolTester monitoring on four million websites revealed that the typical desktop website loads in about 2.5 seconds. On a mobile device, this time jumps up by 70.9% to 8.6 seconds. Customers are more likely to leave your site before making a purchase if it takes too long to load.

Competition

It’s simpler than ever to compare prices when purchasing on a mobile device thanks to the emergence of mobile price comparison applications. You can get over this by keeping an eye on your rivals.

You may boost the likelihood that customers will choose to purchase at your business regardless of price discrepancies by making sure your firm provides the finest customer experience and product selections. To ensure you stay competitive and relevant in the market, keep an eye on the pricing, shipping alternatives, and discounts offered by your rivals.

Mobile commerce trends to pay attention to

Learn more about the latest mobile commerce trends to ensure that your brand stays relevant and offers the most up-to-date shopping experiences for your customers.

The rise of mobile apps

Online shopping increased significantly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, and usage of shopping applications increased by 49% between Q1 2020 and Q2 2021.

This is mainly because mobile apps can produce a more authentic buying experience. Apps are frequently quicker and were created expressly for mobile use. And since 2018, app usage on mobile devices has vastly outpaced browser usage.

To substantiate this claim, the app for the clothes retailer SHEIN experienced unprecedented usage during the pandemic, resulting in 12% more users in Q2 2020, totaling 40.1 million users, and a 24% increase in its monthly active users to 71 million.

Since apps are designed specifically for mobile use, they improve the mobile experience. The native app runs far faster than a mobile website, regardless of screen resolution, and it’s simple to discover products and finish the purchase procedure inside the app.

One-click checkout

One of the newest e-commerce trends is one-click checkout, which allows you to place an order with just one click. The website you’re shopping on compiles information you’ve stored to your computer or mobile device, such as your name, email address, shipping address, and chosen payment method.

This speed makes the checkout process exceedingly simple, and the simpler shopping is for customers, the more likely they are to make a purchase from your site. One-click checkout options include Shopify’s Shop Pay among others.

Shopify merchants can add Shop Pay (above) to make the checkout process as easy as possible for their customers.

Social commerce

Selling your goods through social media networks is known as social commerce. Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat, and, more recently, Twitter are platforms that support social commerce.

On your social media profile, you can make online stores or catalogues that make it simple to categorise and advertise your products. The ability to buy is then available to customers without ever having to leave the social networking app.

You can create online shops or catalogues on your social network profile that make it simple to organise and market your products. Customers then have the option to make a purchase without ever leaving the social networking app.

Chatbots

Chatbots are frequently employed to enhance online experiences and customer support, but they are now also available for mobile shopping. Mobile device purchases on your website can be made simpler with the help of an ecommerce chatbot.

In addition, you can construct chatbots on several social media sites like Facebook and Instagram to improve your social commerce approach.

Here’s an example of fashion label Michael Kors’ chatbot in action:

After the welcome message, the chatbot asks users what they want to know and where they are before giving them a list of options, which in this case includes New Arrivals.

Users can begin shopping with Michael Kors inside of Facebook Messenger by selecting New Arrivals. Making mobile purchases quick and easy is possible by using a chatbot like this one.

Personalised recommendations

Increasing sales in your online store requires personalization. Ninety percent of consumers believe personalisation is very desirable to them, and eighty percent say they’re more likely to make a purchase from a company that delivers tailored experiences.

This means that providing your clients with customised recommendations is essential, particularly in the context of mobile commerce. A customer is less likely to browse your full catalogue if they are browsing on their phone. Make it simple for customers to find more product selections.

Check out Hydro Flask’s selection of “compatible accessories” as an illustration; when a user adds an insulated water bottle to their cart, they can also add more caps right away.

Additionally, you ought to tailor recommendations based on a customer’s past purchases. You can include a Buy again? area on your website if the consumer might have run out of anything, or you can offer suggestions that would complement previous purchases your customer has made. Shopify retailers have access to a variety of apps that can be used to create a recommendation engine.

5 Ways to increase your mobile commerce sales

1. Ensure your website is mobile optimised
2. Shorten your checkout process
3. Create your own mobile app or PWA
4. Build an omnichannel customer experience
5. Focus on social commerce and chatbots

Follow these five steps to deliver a mobile commerce experience that will keep customers coming back.

1. Ensure your website is mobile optimised

If you want your website to rank well in search, appeal to your customers, and increase your mobile sales, make sure it’s not just accessible but optimised for mobile users.

A few steps to keep in mind include:

• Check any changes you make to your website on both desktop and mobile.
• Use easy-to-read fonts that are large enough to be viewed on any screen.
• Use square or vertical images that can be easily seen on smaller screens.
• See what Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test has to say about your website.
• Choose a responsive theme for your online store.
• Make sure pop-ups, ads, and other items don’t obstruct views on mobile.

Pay attention to how quickly pages load. Use Google’s PageSpeed Insights to monitor your page load time carefully and reduce it as much as you can to increase online sales.

There are a number of ways to improve your Shopify store speed:

• Disable any apps you’re not using.
• Disable any theme features you’re not using.
• Hire a Shopify expert to ensure you don’t have inefficient coding.
• Size your product images down for web usage.

By decreasing your load time, you’re actively increasing your conversion rate.

2. Shorten your checkout process

Make mobile checkout as quick and simple as possible by using one-click or express checkout solutions like Shop Pay. Check out Rare Device’s checkout page from Shopify, for instance, which gives consumers six rapid express checkout alternatives based on how they like to pay.

Users of Rare Device can select Shop Pay, Apple Pay, PayPal Express, Venmo, Google Pay, or MetaPay to check out almost instantly and are likely to have their information preserved.

3. Create your own mobile app or PWA

We’ve discussed the benefits of mobile apps, but for small businesses in particular, the process of developing a mobile app can appear intimidating and expensive. Progressive web apps (PWAs) may be useful in this situation.

PWAs are essentially little apps that still run in a browser, but they do so much more quickly. Many businesses find that this is the best option for providing a native mobile shopping experience because they are easier and less expensive to design.

PWAs are less complicated than traditional web applications, so hiring a developer will be far less expensive even though these are frequently created using HTML5 and JavaScript.

4. Build an omnichannel customer experience

By ensuring your brand is available and accessible on mobile devices, you’re able to build an omnichannel customer experience.

A few ways to do this are:

• Offer coupons on your mobile app that can be used online and in-store.
• Have accounts accessible on both desktop and mobile browsers/apps.
• Allow users to track purchases on both channels, regardless of where the purchase was made.
• Create a cohesive messaging strategy across desktop and mobile encounters.

5. Focus on social commerce and chatbots

Almost all social networking platforms provide some type of social commerce option, and those that do not probably plan to do so soon. Utilise this to its fullest potential by setting up an online catalogue across all of your social media channels.

Additionally, spend money on a chatbot that you can integrate with your Facebook and Instagram Messengers so that customers can find what they’re searching for without having to speak with real people.

Start paying attention to mobile commerce today

Mobile commerce isn’t a passing trend—it’s a key part of ecommerce that’s only going to grow. Start learning how to increase your mobile sales, and take advantage of Shopify’s mobile tools. Manage your business from your smartphone and make it easier for customers to purchase from their smartphones all in one fell swoop.