Mobile devices have become the preferred shopping channel for a large majority of consumers today. This surge in mobile commerce is compelling retailers to adapt sales strategies for smaller screens, faster customer journeys and increased expectations of personalization. Sales teams must view mobile as an opportunity to boost conversions rather than a constraint. Let us discuss how smart mobile commerce initiatives can be leveraged to delight customers and accelerate sales.
Understanding the Surge in Mobile Commerce
👉 Ubiquity of Smartphones and Tablets
Global mobile penetration has crossed 73%. Consumers always have a shopping device in their pocket now.
👉 Faster Mobile Networks
4G and 5G networks provide the connectivity to browse, purchase and make payments seamlessly.
👉 Mobile-First Consumer Behavior
Younger demographics, especially millennials and Gen Z, extensively use mobiles for social, shopping and entertainment.
👉 App Ecosystems
Brand apps provide personalized discovery channels beyond mobile sites or marketplaces.
👉 Evolution of M-Commerce
From mobile websites to shopping apps to social commerce and augmented reality, mobile shopping experiences keep evolving.
👉 Location-Based Targeting
Proximity allows delivering contextually relevant promotions when customers are near stores.
According to eMarketer, m-commerce sales already account for 72% of US digital commerce and about a third of total retail sales. The convergence of mobility and commerce is clearly an unmissable retail trend.
Designing Mobile-Friendly Sales Experiences
✅ Simplified Navigation: Intuitive navigation designs like bottom tabs make product browsing seamless on mobiles. Persistent search and cart icons aid usability.
✅ Product Information Optimized for Mobile: Key details like ratings, highlights and thumbnails visible upfront even in list views help customers evaluate products faster on mobiles.
✅ Grid/Swipe Interfaces: Image-rich grid layouts that enable horizontally swiping through products suit mobile behavior.
✅ Fewer Form Fields: Lengthy checkout forms are biggest drop-off points on mobiles. Minimizing fields through auto-fill increases conversion rates.
✅ Cross-Channel Continuity: Consistent branding and experiences across website, app, email, etc. maintain continuity for multi-channel shoppers.
✅ Mobile Wallets: Integrating digital wallets like Apple Pay into checkout minimizes data entry and accelerates payments.
✅ Post-Purchase Experience: Order tracking, returns management and customer support options must be mobile-friendly to manage the entire purchase journey.
✅ Testing Usability: Conduct user testing on mobile apps and sites to identify pain points in browsing or checkout flows. Fix these issues.
Essentially, mobile commerce experience must feel intuitive and integrated across channels. Sales teams can leverage mobile analytics and usability research to continually refine engagement for bottom line impact.
Personalization Powered by Mobile
Push notifications with personalized promotions based on cart abandonment or browsing habits.
Populating cart automatically with frequently purchased items.
Tailored product suggestions based on transaction history or wishlists.
Recommending complementary items like chargers for someone purchasing electronics.
Sending post-purchase feedback surveys or reviews requests through the app.
Loyalty programs integrating rewards and referrals into brand apps.
Location-based targeting with notifications about offers as customers are near stores.
Personalized mobile commerce leverages data to deliver relevance at scale. Curating such hyper-contextual experiences requires integrating CRM systems with marketing automation platforms. But the sales dividends in the form of higher engagement and order values are sizable.
Reimagining Mobile Payments
👉 Mobile wallets: Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay etc. enable one-touch payments without entering details.
👉 Buy Now buttons: Allow purchasing popular items directly without adding to cart.
👉 Biometrics: Fingerprint or face authentication on mobiles authorize payments securely.
👉 Guest checkout: Mandatory account signups create friction on mobiles. Offer guest checkout.
👉 QR codes: Allow quick scan-based payments by dynamically generating item-specific codes.
👉 Location-based currencies: Accept payments automatically in localized currencies based on customer location.
👉 Digital receipts: Send digital receipts over email or SMS rather than paper ones.
Retailers must continuously evaluate emerging mobile payment technologies to reduce cart abandonment. Frictionless mobile payments create seamless customer experiences, earning loyalty.
Overcoming Mobile Commerce Challenges
Delivering unified experiences across channels and touchpoints.
Achieving right sizing of design elements for smaller screens.
Geo-targeting customers with relevant communication and offers.
Maintaining personalization at scale across systems and databases.
Optimizing pages and apps for web and app store searches.
Analyzing cross-channel data to quantify mobile commerce ROI accurately.
Mitigating risks like poor connectivity or low device storage during shopping.
Addressing industry-specific needs around visualisation in products like furniture, fashion etc.
Close collaboration between sales, marketing, product and technology teams is vital to surmount these obstacles. While complex, mobile innovation projects have substantial upside for revenue and customer lifetime value.
Leveraging Predictive Analytics for Mobile
Analyze in-app behaviors like product views, cart additions and clicks to model purchase propensity.
Track location data of opted-in users to identify regular store visitors vs passers-by and surface relevant offers.
Assess mobile sales funnels to detect drop-off points and optimize flows.
Forecast sales traffic during holiday weekends based on mobile usage patterns.
Project mobile revenue impact of marketing campaigns through attribution modeling.
Dynamically customize app experiences for customer profiles using machine learning algorithms.
Predictive mobile analytics augment intuition with data-driven decisions to amplify sales.
Success Stories Demonstrating Mobile Commerce Value
❗❗❗Starbucks - The coffee giant’s mobile app is a case study in driving habitual engagement. Users can order and pay ahead for pick-up, collect rewards, send gifts, see menu updates and more. In 2021, 26% of Starbucks' sales came from its mobile app.
❗❗❗ASOS - For the online fashion retailer, ease of use and personalization are key in its highly rated app. Features like smart wishlists, personalized style recommendations, fast checkout, real-time order tracking etc. resulted in 70% of sales occurring on mobile.
These examples validate that optimizing for mobile apps and payments delivers measurable sales lift.
Key Takeaways
As mobile shopping gains dominance, sales teams must reorient processes and mindsets to ride this growth wave:
Simplified navigation, minimal forms and location integration provide intuitive mobile commerce experiences.
Mobile apps and data enable hyper-personalized recommendations and communication at scale.
Frictionless payments using digital wallets or biometrics boost conversions.
Predictive analytics provides data-driven insights to optimize mobile sales strategies.
Leader brands demonstrate the sales potential of engaging, personalized mobile commerce.
Rather than see mobile as a sales channel limitation, retailers must embrace it as the future lever for digital growth. Taking an omnichannel approach with mobile at the core equips sales teams to engage customers effectively. Mobile commerce holds the key to sales success in the digital age.
Hey👋 , thank you for reading! Feel free to check more LabiOffice Blog Team articles on business automation, like: Harnessing CRM Tools for Sales Excellence!
