News

August 17, 2012

"Couch commerce" sparks big rise in mobile transactions

Buying goods online via mobile phones and tablets is set to rise dramatically — with the value of these transactions expected to exceed $730bn annually by 2017, according to Juniper Research.

The research finds that growth will be driven by the increasing scale of real-world (non-digital) purchases from major brands and retailers, with companies such as Domino's in the US and Argos in the UK already seeing 6-7% of all sales occurring via the mobile channel.

The report, Mobile Payments for Digital & Physical Goods, also says that as consumer tablet adoption continues to rise, there will be migration of purchasing activity from laptops and desktops to tablet devices, with consumers increasingly doing online shopping while watching TV.

And Jupiter Research is predicting that this so-called "couch commerce" trend will see mobile and nomadic devices accounting for 30% of eRetail within five years.

Report author, Dr Windsor Holden, said: "We have already moved towards a multi-tasking, multi-media environment which offers brands the opportunity for far greater engagement with consumers than was previously the case. Mobile is increasingly being deployed at all touchpoints in the retail process — product discovery, product purchase, customer retention."

The report also notes the growing importance of the mobile device as a "hub", marrying remote and physical purchases. It cites the example of the eBay Fashion App and Image Swatch, where consumers take or upload a photograph of an item to search for a product online. eBay is planning to enhance this application by enabling users to compare prices and item availability online and via partner bricks-and-mortar stores: the end user can then pay for the item via PayPal before picking up the product from the local store.

The Buy Now, Pay Mobile whitepaper can be downloaded from the Juniper website.

• Infographic: is now the time to embrace mobile commerce?