Mobile Commerce accelerates footfalls for online sites

Online shopping has experienced an unprecedented surge in the recent years but the advent of mobile commerce has proved to be a virtual game changer. Accessing E-commerce websites on desktops and laptops was never a hindrance; however, accessing the same website on mobile phones initially was a challenge because they were primarily designed for big screens. Thus was born the-new-kid- on-the-block in the e-retail sphere: Mobile Commerce.

Mobile Commerce is gaining prevalence by feathering new avenues for the E-commerce industry in India. It has caught the fancy of the consumers who have gained a new edge of convenience with products and services available on the go. The growth of Smartphones and other mobile devices coupled with safer online payment system has led to growth of m-commerce savvy customer who is confident of mobile payments, and this is an important factor driving impulse purchases.

M- Commerce has emerged as a key to impulse shoppers largely due to evolution of mobile technologies with easy navigation tools, larger screens with higher resolutions and zoom feature from various angles which gives a detailed view of the product image. Many sites offer the feature to rotate the image by 360 degrees. The consumers are lured into impulse shopping due to the availability of easy to use, yet, advanced technology that widely prevalent in m-commerce platforms. This innovative transformation is creating seamless opportunities for business prospects in the online world. While adding greater convenience to customers by offering more personalized services, Mobile Commerce is equally benefiting the retailers by increasing their profits..

Impulse purchase is the edifice of mobile shopping. It is the culmination of sales, discounts, offers, website inventory, secure payment system, intelligent placement of products on home page and checkout page, strategic use of visuals, free shipping and many other strategies, all working out in perfect harmony with each other. In fact, the online retailers are trying every trick up their sleeve to attract more number of customers to their mobile stores. One of the key strategies that they follow is to trigger impulse purchases, especially on the checkout page. When mobile consumers use their phones during the shopping process, some are persuaded into spur-of-the-moment purchases with attractive offers and eye catchy product images right on the checkout page.

Another strategy to encourage impulse sales is by offering complementary products which match the item the consumer has purchased. This way the consumer ends up buying more than he actually planned for. Say a consumer has planned to purchase a trouser and has put it in the cart. Then the checkout page suggests the options of a matching shirt. Many customers will be tempted to buy that ‘additional’ product. Encouraging shoppers to snatch up extra items is important for retailers, who need to push up their sales in view of the intense market competition.

There are other tactics adopted by the e-retailers like offering deals-of-the-day which trigger impulse shopping. Customers tend to put an item in their cart since they are driven by the attractive deals. Even if they don’t need the product at that point of time, the idea of saving the money prompts them to spend the money. In some cases, a website has a blog or an editorial which talks about the benefit of buying a product, and a link to ‘click and buy’ is given on that page. This also leads to impulse shopping.