How Mobile Devices Are Impacting eCommerce

In the earliest days of the internet, people had to do their shopping and transactions on desktops and laptops. Now, mobile phones have high market penetration in Nigeria that a large chunk of transactions is now performed on mobile devices: smartphones and tablets. This was what was discovered in the Jumia Mobile Report 2019 where 57% of Jumia customers visited the website via mobile web, 28% via the mobile app and 15% via the Desktop in 2018.

Here are some of the ways mobile devices are impacting eCommerce.

Shop on-the-go

With mobile devices always in their purse or pocket, consumers increasingly use them to shop while they’re in motion. They can even begin shopping at home or at work with their PC, and then pick up where they left off when they head out the door on their mobile device.

Expanded opportunity

The biggest impact of mobile on e-commerce may be that it has dramatically expanded opportunity. Until smart-devices became prevalent, online purchases were constrained by location, you really only could shop while at a desktop/laptop computer that had an Internet connection. Today that’s all changed. Always-connected mobile devices allow you to shop from anywhere, and have fundamentally changed shopping behaviour.

Functionality

User experience and functionality are a crucial part of mobile commerce and in many ways the most simple to understand. Basically, your site must work well on a device for a sale to occur. That means both the small things and the big things must be done right. In particular, consumers expect that core e-commerce functions such as “add to cart” work smoothly and error free. This mobile-optimized functionality can make or break an e-commerce offering.

Geomarketing

Companies can push targeted ads to customers based on their location, such as encouraging them to take advantage of a flash sale. The GPS technology in mobile devices lets companies locate consumers when they approach their physical location and then send them special offers on the spot. Paying close attention to how consumers use mobile devices for ecommerce is essential for any company that is trying to boost mobile site engagement. You will see higher conversion rates when you make it easy for customers to learn about your company via their mobile devices and make connections with your sales team or customer service reps via Live Chat.

Reliability

Consumers expect the same mobile shopping experience wherever they go. They want the technology to work securely and safely, each and every time they make a purchase. If an e-commerce entity violates that trust (i.e. with slow page-load times, security warnings, etc.), it can translate to lost revenue. This is true on desktops as well but to a lesser extent. On a mobile device, both bandwidth and time are extremely precious, making reliability an absolute essential.