The iPhone has already changed the perception of what is possible with a phone and e-commerce is now a trusted form of shopping preferred by millions. The logical next step is for shopping to move onto the phone. I’m not talking about using your phone to shop e-commerce sites. I’m talking about entirely new shopping platforms constructed specifically for the phone. There are a few brand apps (Amazon for example) that give a glimpse at the potential and direction, but I don’t think they are even close to where we’ll be in five years. Everything from user interface to payment setup will have to be built around what works on a phone. This represents massive change and great opportunity for many companies.
If I’m an online retailer, I can now convert a sale the second someone is thinking about my product. No more waiting for that person to get home to their computer and hope they remember my product. Or if they’re at work where online shopping isn’t allowed, they can now pull out their phone and purchase anyway.
If I’m an OOH (out of home) advertising platform, I can sell advertisers on the ability to convert impressions into sales on the spot. Think movie ads, digital signage networks and billboards. Mobile commerce could be the silver bullet that allows these guys to compete with PPC and other more efficient Internet vehicles. It just might give interruption marketing a chance at surviving the inbound marketing siege.
If I’m a developer, I can develop a shopping interface for the phone. If people are going to shop on their phone, it’s going to be using an interface specifically built for the phone. The person that can make this accessible and affordable for retailers stands to make a lot of money.
These are just a few of the potentials I can imagine. I’m sure there will be seemingly endless opportunities when the market starts to develop. I believe this is an area that can and will be bigger than sliced bread.
Quick Facts:
Smartphones make up roughly 15% of the US handheld market
About 50,000,000 people currently use mobile Internet in the US
There are 450,000,000 users of mobile Internet in the world
Online purchases will double, from $8 trillion to $16 trillion, by 2013
Facts pulled from a few different research studies posted online.
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