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5 top tips for driving m-commerce growth

By Retail Technology | Wednesday October 16 2013

ID verification expert David Pope, reveals how to convert mobile channel consumers who abandon their shopping carts into full paying customers

Nineteen years after the first online retail transaction, the growth curve shows no sign of slowing, with the rise of web savvy, mobile consumers glued to their smartphones and tablets. So, online retailers have got it made, right?
 
Not quite, according to David Pope, European director of marketing for online and mobile identity verification and payment company Jumio.
 
The Jumio Mobile Consumer Insights Study, published earlier this year, revealed that 66% of mobile visitors are abandoning their shopping carts, representing significant lost sales opportunities.
 
Pope said the study revealed both good and bad news for retailers: the global online retail market is now worth €825 billion/$1.064 billion (£662bn); annual growth is 20% year-on-year; and the average individual consumer spend is €1,050/$1,354 (£842.49) a year. And its latest statistics show that mobile is responsible for 23% of traffic and 15% of sales, where 39% growth is predicted next year (double that of e-commerce).

Encouraging mobile transactions
 
The bad news was that 66% of consumers were abandoning their mobile transaction, meaning that retailers are missing out on custom. “If the same thing was to happen in store, with seven out of 10 customers with a filled basket dropping it and leaving, retailers would react – so why accept it via mobile channels? The big question is why?” Pope asked.
 
Consumer feedback revealed that 51% didn’t feel comfortable inputting credit card details; 47% said the checkout process was too long; 41% stated the checkout was too difficult on the device; and 23% said their purchase would not go through.
 
However, Pope said this doesn’t paint the whole picture of m-commerce. “Perhaps mobile consumers are feeling guilty about spending? Or it’s perhaps cheaper elsewhere? They may be worried about the returns policy or just get distracted by the television or when it is time to pick up the kids,” he suggested. “In truth, some abandonment factors are out of the control of even the most talented mobile channel developers. But we need to make it as easy as possible for customers to spend while making them feel secure.”
 
Pope offered his top five tactics to tackle mobile shopping cart abandonment for retailers:
 
1. Reduce Payment Friction
Make entering payment details as easy as possible and allow people to pay how they want. Jumio is one way achieve this; using its mobile device as a card scanner, customers can scan their payment card rather than type it all out.
 
2. Design For Mobile First
Mobile is more than just e-commerce on the small screen, it is about the user experience and to take advantage you need to design specifically for mobile.
 
3. Hold My Basket For Me
Don’t delete the basket, if they’ve come back, remind customers what they were thinking of buying.
 
4. Know Your Customer
If they’re a regular customer find out more about them; invite them to join your loyalty programme offering discounts; for casual customers, make the checkout process fast.
 
5. Calm Customer Fears
Give customers confidence in mobile. Let them know you’re secure. Show logos of your partners, Visa, MasterCard and security and anti-fraud partners. Ensure FAQ’s are readily available including your returns policy and delivery times.
 
So what next?
  
Pope concluded: “Retailers must ensure they have a mobile strategy in place. That said, I know that not all the work is to be done by retailers and here at Jumio we are working with leading online retail associations and leading vendors in the online retail space to help as much as we can to make mobile the revenue driver it should be.”

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