“With smartphones sales booming, it was inevitable that m-shopping would explode,” says Olivier Chameyrat, managing director of Pixmania-PRO. “Brits are now spending a massive £4.5bn on their smartphones every year, up 53% in the last 12 months and an increase of almost 600% in the last two years.”
The effects of this rapid market development have rippled across the mobile technology industry, with mobile app downloads also experiencing similar growth. Owners of both smartphones and tablets running on both Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS operating platforms are behind a 51% increase year on year in app downloads to over 25m in 2011.*
With m-commerce and apps a rising force within the online retailing world that looks set to stay, it is imperative that small businesses keep up with current trends and adapt to the way their customers are consuming their products.
Chameyrat explains: “There is massive potential for small businesses to take advantage of this enormous profit opportunity available to them. The numbers speak for themselves and small businesses that are ahead of the curve will succeed in exploiting this. Their ability to move quickly and respond to the changing market conditions much more nimbly than large corporations is their key to success.”
And with 4G internet set to hit the UK in 2013, Brits will have access to the internet at wifi speed while out and about, making it quicker and easier than ever before to buy products and services on a smartphone or tablet on the go.
“While this is really only the beginning for m-commerce; essentially small businesses need to keep in mind that they don’t want to miss out on another method to reach and sell to customers.” concludes Chameyrat.
