Mobile Commerce in 2016: More contextual and conversational
Note: This week, Bryan Yeager, eMarketer Analyst, provides a guest post.
By Bryan Yeager
What if you could easily and accurately try on and then buy the latest accessories or beauty products without ever stepping foot inside a boutique? What about seamlessly booking a flight, a place to stay, and a few excursions with just a few taps of your thumb, without switching apps? Or hearing directly from a company’s experts when you have questions about their latest tech gadget, while simultaneously chatting with your friends and making weekend plans? Guess what, the future is here.
Innovative retailers know that mobile isn’t a quick way to get info on products, or to look for deals and price comparisons. Instead, retailers are using contextual and conversational elements to move mobile from a platform for research and shopping to an end-to-end buying experience. This is a major trend that will drive consumer spending on smartphones and tablets in 2016 and beyond.
Enhancing mobile shopping and buying with context
Thanks to factors like better-optimized sites and apps, as well as larger screen sizes, smartphone retail mcommerce is on track to outpace tablet commerce over the next several years. According to eMarketer estimates, in 2017, slightly more than half of all digital buyers ages 14 and older in the U.S. will make at least one purchase via a smartphone. This means that more than half of all retail mcommerce sales in the U.S. will take place on a smartphone.
Digital sellers continue to think of new and innovative ways to leverage the unique collection of sensors and cameras embedded in smartphones to bring more context to the commerce experience.
For instance, a growing number of fashion and beauty brands are tapping into increasingly powerful phone processors and cameras by employing technology in their mobile apps that lets shoppers virtually try on makeup, clothing, and accessories before making a purchase. It may not come as a surprise that digital retailers in these categories have significantly increased their share of transactions from mobile over the past year.
In another example, if you want to make a reservation at that hot new restaurant currently trending on Foursquare, you now can, thanks to mobile deep-linking technology from Button. Their technology enables Foursquare app users to check availability and book reservations with OpenTable, all without having to open a separate app and conduct a search. The same technology can be used to order local concert tickets for artists you listen to on your favorite music streaming app, or to book an Airbnb directly after booking a flight.
Looking beyond the smartphone, Amazon’s Dash buttons allow customers to create their own buying context. Do you need more paper towels? Put the Bounty Dash button in the back of the cupboard and press it when only a few rolls are left. Running out of razor blades? Place the Gillette Dash button on the door of your medicine cabinet to remind you to reorder. Context is also being built directly into products via Dash Replenishment Services. From water pitchers to home printers, supplies like filters and ink are reordered at the right moment so that they arrive in the nick of time.
Mobile messaging opens up the door to conversational commerce
By the end of 2016, more than 6 in 10 mobile phone internet users worldwide, or 1.61 billion people, will use some type of mobile messaging app like Facebook Messenger, according to eMarketer projections.
In China, mobile messaging and mobile commerce are almost indistinguishable, with marketplaces cropping up on apps like WeChat to allow users to buy a wide variety of products and services within the app, and to better-connect brands to app users. As a result, eMarketer expects that mobile will account for 10.9% of total retail sales in China by the end of this year, compared with mobile’s anticipated 2.6% share in the U.S.
Though most mcommerce in the U.S. is transacted on mobile websites and non-messaging apps, mobile messaging is starting to enable more conversational types of mobile commerce stateside. Startups like Magic, GoButler and Assist have added messaging-based interfaces to on-demand services like DoorDash, Postmates, Seamless, and Uber. And others have built their own services that utilize messaging, including Taylor, a personal travel assistant, and Wonder, a personal research assistant.
These apps are certainly interesting, if a bit nichey. But someone like Facebook could bring this type of conversational commerce into the mainstream as it builds more of these capabilities into its Messenger app. Benji Shomair, the company’s director of product marketing for Facebook Pages, said in a February 2016 interview that Messenger offers “a unique opportunity for businesses to interact with people both where they’re already spending their time and having these meaningful conversations.”
Currently, “when people are thinking about making the transaction, they’re finding this channel is a really valuable way to help with their questions, clarifications and availability,” according to Shomair. Customer service is also an important aspect, especially after the social network enabled private replies to public comments left on companies’ Facebook Pages in September last year. Facebook M, the company’s still-emerging text-based virtual assistant, could be one way to close the purchase path originating from a mobile conversation in the near future.
The bottom line
When factoring in tablets, mobile commerce will be more than a $100 billion business in the U.S. by the end of this year. But it’s important to remember not all paths to purchase are created equal. Brands that can craft intuitive experiences that tap into mobile’s unique capabilities by providing elements of context and conversation before, during, and after the sale will be in the best position to turn shoppers into buyers, and to stake their claim to a market that has plenty of room to grow.
About the Author
Bryan Yeager is a senior analyst with eMarketer, a leading research firm providing data, insights and analysis for marketing in a digital world. He is the author of more than 20 in-depth market intelligence reports and responsible for monitoring and reporting on key trends including mobile payments, marketing technology, personalization, immersive experiences, digital identity and other emerging areas at the intersection of digital marketing, media and commerce.
You can find him on Twitter: @bryanyeager
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