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Unit 9: Mobile Commerce

Self Assessment Notes

State whether the following statements are true or false:
6. The voucher, coupon, or loyalty card is represented by a virtual token that is sent to the
mobile phone.

7. It is not required to know the location of the mobile phone user during mobile commerce
transactions.
8. Stock market services offered via mobile devices have also become more popular and are
known as Mobile Banking.
9. Mobile purchase allows customers to shop online at any time in any location.
10. Traditional auctions, the reverse auction (or low-bid auction) bills the consumer’s phone
each time they place a bid.

9.4 Growth Trends in M-Commerce

Mobile commerce has seen a significant growth in recent months and this is a trend that is
widely anticipated to continue. Mobile strategies are becoming increasingly important and any
advertiser that doesn’t have a mobile presence could be missing out on a considerable amount
of sales. Significant growth has been seen across a number of m-commerce channels, primarily
driven by search and display. The growth of additional technologies such as location based
services and Quick Response (QR) codes are seeing the channel develop even further, providing
a link between off-line to on-line and vice versa. The growth trends can be discussed in the
following areas:

9.4.1 Mobile Search

Mobile search has been a significant growth area over the past year. Research conducted by
Efficient Frontier highlights that mobile search spend accounted for just 0.34% of total search
spend in June 2010. By March 2011 this had increased to 1.7% and mobile search is predicted to
grow rapidly – potentially accounting for 4.3% by the end of the year.
Currently click prices are typically lower for mobile search although this may vary significantly
from sector to sector. Additional research from Efficient Frontier has found that advertisers are
experiencing higher click through rates through mobile search. On average, click through rates
are 2.7% higher than desktop searches. However, despite click through rates being higher,
conversion rates are often lower than experienced through desktop . This is likely to be down to
the user experience. If a customer lands on a site through mobile search that has not been optimised
for mobile, the user journey could be fiddly and cause the consumer to abandon their attempt to
purchase. This again highlights the benefit of having a fully optimised mobile site. Mobile search
also lends itself to local searches. Often consumers could be looking for somewhere to buy locally.
With the addition of phone numbers within mobile search ads, retailers could drive sales on a
cost per call model. This is simple to set up and monitor, lending itself well to a cost per lead
model. Conversion rates for well executed campaigns can be exceptionally high. Additionally,
mobile search can tie in with location based marketing to drive footfall to stores.

9.4.2 Mobile Display

Mobile display spend is also growing rapidly. The annual IAB PwC Adspend study showed that
mobile display spends grew 62% in 2009 and 116% in 2010. This is widely anticipated to increase
further in 2011.

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