The M-Commerce Advantage
Why is that South Africans prefer to put their feet in the mall rather than their fingers on the button when it comes to their shopping? A survey undertaken by Visa and examined by Accenture, found that 63% of South Africans preferred the hard floors of the mall to the soft sofa clicks of e-Commerce and accessibility of m-Commerce (mobile devices) in 2019 and while this dynamic has had to change over the past 18 months thanks to factors outside of retailer control, there’s still solid footfall within malls, and retailers are still not exploring beyond the boundaries of their brick-and-mortar stores.
The problem is that retailers are not building more holistic customer experiences that leverage multiple touchpoints to drive engagement and sales. Even now, as the world shifts on its pandemic axis, retailers remain entrenched in physical locations with limited to poor online stores and experiences. Leading retail names have online stores that, if pulled into the real world, would have tattered signs and dirty floors and three old items hanging from a broken hanger. The user experiences are terrible, the payment hoops complicated, and the experience as much fun as having anaesthetic-free root canal.
The difference between the M and the E in commerce
The consumer of 2021 is already vastly different from the consumer of 2019. They’re far more digitally savvy and they are demanding far better experiences from retailers. As competitive landscapes go, this one is roaring. Some companies have stepped up to the digital plate and provided their customers with exceptional experiences that translate onto multiple devices. A great example of this is the award-winning Checkers Sixty60 app – a simple and straightforward mobile app that gave customers locked down in their homes immediate access to essential goods.
The app had some teething problems, but it did several things right. It recognised how differently people engage with media on their mobile devices, and it was optimised for mobile devices. Since then, many other retailers have taken a leaf out of this book and focused on optimised mobile experiences – both app and web – but there are still companies that don’t realise how negative the impact of a poorly optimised site on customer loyalty and spend.
Your digitally savvy consumer expects your services to be relevant, to be convenient, and to be capable. It doesn’t matter if your offering is cheaper than your neighbour’s if their m-Commerce solution is simple and swift while yours is slow, ponderous and overly complicated.
The opportunity in digital
Creating an app or website that’s optimised for mobile and easy to use is just one step on the road to leveraging the power of m-Commerce. The other is payments. Yes, there are several reliable payment platforms available on the market. No, for some reason retailers are using payment methods that are old, outdated and frustrating. In the online realm the abandoned cart is a problem that retailers need to solve, not create. When someone is browsing online and decide to impulse purchase an item, that impulse and spend will be well and truly squashed if they have to register, then fill in a lengthy password, then re-register, then fill in copious card details, then confirm their card, then log in again, and so on, and so very delayed forth. What usually happens is that the shopper simply stops what they’re doing and abandons the cart.
This is an immediate financial loss to the business. This is why retailers need robust digital infrastructure that not only optimises the user experience for mobile, but the payment one too. Ensure that payment systems are consistent, secure and capable and as frictionless as possible. That’s the way into the m-commerce heart, and the way to build elegant touchpoints that engage the customer across every part of the retail spectrum.
It’s also a social tool
M-Commerce is not just the ability to pay and shop online, it’s also the world of social media and this is a space where every retailer should learn to play. You need to hear what your customers are saying, talk to them in their worlds, and engage with them in real time. However, social media is not as simple as putting someone young behind the corporate mobile device and letting them chat. It’s a complex, challenging and demanding channel that deserves focused attention. Done well, it can shift the dialogue of the retailer into new realms and improve traffic across multiple touch points – from physical to virtual. Done badly, it can impact reputation and bottom line. Today, it is absolutely essential that retailers focus on the immense value provided by m-Commerce, and apply fresh technologies and approaches to their traditional brick-and-mortar stores. By blending the virtual with the mobile and the physical, they can transform the quality of customer experiences and they can create holistic shopping ecosystems that meet diverse, ever changing, customer needs.