What E-Commerce services are provided by M-Commerce?The increase inmobile sales is no disbelief, as the sustained increase in smartphone usethrough the U.S. According to the Pew Research Center, 95% of U.S. grownups ownmobile phones and 77% of them are smartphones. Improved access to both smartdevices and Wi-Fi are facilitating the swing to mobile shopping.There are many diverse explanations and descriptions of what M-Commerce is. Lehman (1995) describes M-Commerce as “the use of mobile hand-held devices to communicate, inform, transact and entertain using text and data via connection to public and private networks.” This is a very broad description as mobile technology has continued to grow and its capabilities have been developed and continue to develop furiously. Haddon (1997) supports this broad view by defining M-commerce as “a financial transaction specifically purchasing and selling”M-Commerceincludes many new innovative apps that have become possible simply due to theadvances in technology. These apps include mobile financial services – checkingaccount balance/info, money transfer etc. Travel – online reservation,timetables, Airline/train tickets. Entertainment (games) News/information. Eventticket booking (telephone and online booking).These are all examples ofE-commerce services that have the capability to be carried out using mobiledevices.Discuss the role of M-Commerce in retailing.According to CBRE, from 2013 to 2017 M-commerce sales grew 276% and they are expected by 2021 to grow another 170%. This growth is expected to bring m-commerce sales beyond those of computer sales and account for approximately 54% of online retail sales by 2021.Combined with changes in consumershopping habits technology and retailers’ investments in mobile channels theyare contributing significantly to m-commerce growth.From advertising and social mediato mobile-friendly websites and apps, retailers are investing in strategies toreach consumers via their phones. Although the consumer demand is drivinginvestments data is another main for encouragement pushing mobile commerce. Byimplementing attractive loyalty plans and apps, consumers are sharing a dataabout their shopping behaviours. Thus facilitating retailers with an improvedand enhanced understanding of their customers and the ability to adapt offersand products to individual customers.According toStrategy& survey, over half (54%) of consumers like online loyaltypromotions that provide points and offers which allow consumers to have accessacross all channels both instore and online. An example of this kind of schemeis represented by Amazon who offer their customers a subscription option to‘Amazon Prime’. This promotion offers consumers free next day delivery anddiscounts on products all for $79 dollars a year. Last year’s figures showed asign up of over 2million people with a growth annually of 24%. A statistic thatAmazon have released is that a subscriber spends on average 130% more thannon-subscribers and new members spend a total of $900 which is an increase from$400 . Latitude1 surveyed smartphone users in both Americaand the UK, which resulted in over 60% of consumers once they received an emailor a text message from a retailer they were more inclined to buy from thatbrand. Furthermore, ‘try on’ virtual simulations, digital content, samplevideos and product info interested 79% of shoppersPWC (2018)stress ‘Give customers anew, enjoyable, rewarding, novel, and inventive channel in which to purchaseyour products and increase their loyalty.’ Resulting in m-commerce becomingsecond nature and part a normal and expected part of the retailing experience.’Why is M-Commerce such a fragmented market?Enterprise Guide to Gaining BusinessValue from Mobile Technologies a book by Adam Kornak’s expresses mobility as‘business transactions and data access at any time from any device, anywhereusing wireless technology.’Kornak (Pp. 4-5) (2004)Moreover,Deloitte stress in mobile ‘one size does not fit all. Retailers should takesteps to understand their customers and how they shop within specific productcategories.’ Retailers have the ability to shape and use the technology to enhancetheir shopping experience.Camponovo (2002) highlights thatm-commerce is a very promising and an emerging industry, however highlights that ‘due totechnology continuously changing the m-commerce industry is complex and a veryuncertain environment. Futhermore, Camponovo(2002) paper on m-commerce business models highlights that many big players inthe industry are still experimenting with a variety of technologies andbusiness models with the long term view of trying to implement a profitable andsustainable position.Overall there are many uncertainties in the m-commere sector as in what technologies will have a transformative influence, and what technologies are just hype? This is a normal for emerging industries. As a consequence retailers must try a variety of strategic approaches as well as continually revaluating and repositioning themselves in order to be in the most competitive position possible. Why do retailers spend much of their IT budget on M-Commerce?Michael Moeser, Javelin payments practicedirector stated “Mobile is the growth engine of digital commerce.” In the US asurvey by Javelin predicted that the market share of purchases by smart deviceswill grow to $319 billion by 2020 from $122 billion in 2015.eMarketer’snumbers suggest, a huge amount of sales are being missed out by retailers. Theyindicated that many retailers websites are not mobile friendly/accessible. Accordingto eMarketers consumers are influenced up to One-third more by searching foradditional information on products via smart/mobile deviceRichardLowe, CEO, BT Expedite highlighted recently that huge retailers are investingin technology and have set aside up to “Many retailers are struggling to keeppace with the rapidly changing requirements of multichannel operations withlegacy systems slowing them down. Replacing these systems is vital for gainingcompetitive advantage.”“Retailersneed to focus on their mobile apps, mobile marketing and facilitating theomnichannel buying experience,” Mr. Moeser said. “Consumers are more willingthan ever to receive mobile marketing messages from retailers and willing toact upon them.”Millennialshoppers aged 25-34 from a recent study show they are the top and largest usersin the mobile commerce area. With this in mind it is important for retailers tostreamline their services and offer a user friendly experience across multipleservices. With the statistic of 87% of 25-34 year olds have at least purchaseda product online this highlights the shift and the importance of integratingtechnology.Recent studyshows that the largest share of mobile commerce will come from millennialshoppers, as the top users of mcommerce shopping are individuals aged 25 to 34.Eighty-seven percent of that demographic has purchased something online in thepast month, showcasing the importance for retailers to offer streamlinedcheckout options.Discuss the impact of M-Commerce on competition among retailers.According to David Eads (2011) a survey found that 90% ofretailers believe that mobile commerce is already impacting shopping activitiesand that shoppers are gradually demanding a seamless mobile shoppingexperience, with over 60% of shoppers choices being mobile influenced forinstore purchases, with 40% using mobile apps to make shopping decisions and37% using a combination of the two.These statistics illustrate the barriersretailers are facing that are stopping them from introducing end-to-end mobilecommerce strategies.Whether it’s in the travel, healthcare, retail or thefinancial industries, the key challenge for businesses to overcome whenadopting a complete mobile strategy is the rising level of mobilefragmentation. Ley Valentin, C.(2017) highlights when we look at the best brands in retail the bestcustomers and the best retailers success is an experience that isconsistent across all mediums and platforms. There is an extraordinarylevel of competition in the mobile marketplace with numerous crucial companiespersistently developing new technologies, shoppers have never had so manyoptions.Because of MIDs, customers have cometo expect a flexible and seamless experience across different channels, whetherat their local store or on the social web, whether mobile or at a computer, andwhether online or offline (Fulgoni, 2014). What are the difficulties in managing mobile technology?There are many opportunities in mobile technology however as Jonas Haertfelder et al (2016) state there aremany challenges as well. Piotrowicz et al (2014) highlight the development ofsocial media and in what way it has brought the social network into the store.From sharing prodcuts, experience, product prices pictures, opinions andthoughts. Spaid et al (2014) discuss how customers can post their opinionregarding a sales assistant they have come in contact with or post and share acomment regarding their satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the store. This asPiotrowicz et al (2014) highlight is a problem and challenge for retailers asthey have no direct influence on any social network.Piotrowicz et al (2014) also highlight the organizationalchallenges that can occur trying to update and maintain multiple technologychannels. Fulgoni (2014) develop on this point by discussing that even if aretailer provides different channels, usually there are different people anddifferent departments highlighting the lack of integration withinorganizations. Zhang et al, (2010) emphasize the need for retailers to optimizeand strive to achieve efficiency across channels. Another challenge retailers have is the buying processbetween channels. Brynjolfsson et al, (2013) mention the ‘showroom’ phenomenonwhich invites customers to the store for the physical “touch and see” but thepurchasing process of the product is online. Verhoef et al., (2015) underlinethat retailers are in a tricky position as Peltola et al, (2015) stresscustomers do not separate the different channels, they are all one and thedifferent channels in a customer’s journey are only continuing to increase.Furthermore, it is important to get the balance ofchannels correct. A study from 2000 that’s has been cited found that the more paymentoptions, frequently leads to a reduction in sales and consumer satisfaction. Anexample is the variety of mobile payments. Several mobile wallets areunavailable in all geographic positions while shoppers in some sites favour onepayment choice over another. A real life example is in the Netherlands, 70-80% of individuals use iDeal, a paymentsystem which isn’t used in many other locations or very few.  If you don’t have iDeal in Holland, the Dutchwon’t buy from you. Overall with technology there is always the need forconstant optimization to ensure the customer has a fast and simple experience.What is the future for M-Commerce?Ovumpredicts by 2026 that a quick and efficient experience will be critical to aretailers’ success whatever the channel whether that be mobile or desktop.Overall this means that the customer will have the ability to buy a product orservice instantaneously and have the ability to see when it’s on its way totheir home. Amazon and Ebay are already driving the market towards this ‘sameor next day delivery’ mentality which is raising customers’ expectations. This will not only occur in theretail sector but across all sectors. AI and Data analysis is predicted to playa huge part in m-commerce and shoppers future experience as they demand and expecttheir experience to be more related to their lives. Recommendations and productproposals will become vital for retailers, merging social media activity and priorsearches to mould and adapt the experience to that individual, whether in thephysical store or online via multiple devices. A study byeMarketer reports that social networks users favour messenger apps (54.4%) toget in contact with the retailer as opposed to phone calls email, andtraditional discussion (46.6%). H&M and Starbucks are already brands thathave already implemented technology like chatbots and messaging services andthis will continue to grow throughout the different brands and sectors.The bottechnology is still in its emerging period however Verhoef, P et al (2015)state there is enormous potential for this technology in the mcommerce market.Consumers cananticipate Augmented reality (AR) to exhibit how outfits will appear on thembefore they choose to purchase. From makeup and household furniture, thistechnology could form the divide between virtual and he real world. Currently,return of goods has always been a problem for retailers however AR couldeliminate this as shoppers will have the opportunity to ‘try before they buy.’According to Statista, in 2017 there were around 2.31 billion smartphones connected to the Web; this number is still growing and in 2020 it will probably reach almost 3.0 billion. Google predicts PWAs are the future of mobile and we think they can also be the future of mobile commerce, solving its most problematic pain points. PWAs combine the best things from the mobile and web approaches – Mobile web reach which is 3 times higher than on Apps. It is way easier to launch an internet browser and look for info, a product you need, etc., than to download a particular app, install it, launch it, and so on. This technology is still pretty new and rather in the early stages of development, but some huge e-commerce players have already benefit from it. For example, AliExpress increased conversion rate for new users by 104% with their new PWAs.The airline industry is taking a page from smartphone and computer hardware makers, by dabbling in facial recognition technology to speed up the convenience factor for customers. Recently, Delta Air Lines was the first to launch a biometric terminal in the U.S. for international flights at its Atlanta hub. Passengers can choose to check-in with the optional technology to speed up the process. Bibliography Cao, L (2014) Business model transformation in moving to a cross-channel retail strategy: A case study. International Journal of Electronic Commerce 18(4):69 – 96 eMarketer (2015) Prognose zur Anzahl der Smartphone-Nutzer weltweit von 2012 – 2018 (in Milliarden). http://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/309656/umfrage/prognose-zur-anzahl-der-smartphone-nutzer-weltweit/. Last request 20.08.2015Fulgoni, G M (2014) ’omni-channel’ retail insights and the consumer’s path-to-purchase: How digital has transformed the way people make purchasing decisions. Journal of Advertising Research 54(4):377 – 380 Peltola, S, Vainio, H, and Nieminen, M (2015) Key factors in developing omnichannel customer experience with finnish retailers. In HCI in Business, volume 9191 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 335 – 346 Spaid, B I and Flint, D J (2014) The meaning of shopping experiences augmented by mobile internet devices. Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice 22(1):73 – 90 Verhoef, P C, Kannan, P, and Inman, J J (2015) From multi-channel retailing to omni-channel retailing: Introduction to the special issue on multi-channel retailing. Journal of Retailing 91(2):174 – 181Zhang, J, Farris, P W, Irvin, J W, Kushwaha, T, Steenburgh, T J, and Weitz, B A (2010) Crafting integrated multichannel retailing strategies. Journal of Interactive Marketing 24(2):168 – 180Piotrowicz, W and Cuthbertson, R (2014) Introduction to the special issue information technology in retail: Toward omnichannel retailing. Int. Journal of Electronic Commerce 18(4):5 – 1PWC, (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.strategyand.pwc.com/media/file/Shoppers-on-the-go.pdf Www2.deloitte.com. (2018). [online] Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/uk/Documents/consumer-business/deloitte-uk-the-dawn-of-mobile-influence-final.pdf Camponovo, G. (2018). [online] Pdfs.semanticscholar.org. Available at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/05c0/bfc422869d3ed3ecc16fb4de8def2c1cbac0.pdf. Ley Valentin, C. (2017). [online] Available at: https://www.mytotalretail.com/article/m-commerce-opportunity-win-online-retail/ Haertfelder, J. (2016). [online] Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/297715060_Opportunities_and_Challenges_for_Local_Retailing_in_an_Environment_Dominated_by_Mobile_Internet_Devices_-_Literature_Review_and_Gap_Analysis Blum, M. (2018). Are PWA’s the future of M-Commerce? – Mateusz Blum – Medium. [online] Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/@mateuszblum/are-pwas-the-future-of-m-commerce-5cdfc295d66e Hopping, C. and Walker, D. (2018). The future of m-commerce. [online] IT PRO. Available at: https://www.itpro.co.uk/mobile/28092/the-future-of-m-commerce Get Help With Your EssayIf you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help!Find out more