How to Capitalize on M-Commerce to Grow Your Business

When you’re striving for success in e-commerce, it’s crucial to keep up with all important developments and adapt your strategy to maximize the potential of your business. In this fast-paced, technology-driven world, you need to think and act fast if you want to stay relevant and grow. 

Gone are the days when commerce took place exclusively offline. Retailers – big and small – have set up shop on the internet, making their products and services easily accessible to a wide-reaching audience. As both vendors and buyers are looking for ways to make their lives easier and more profitable, e-commerce has slowly but steadily been embracing the power of mobile. That’s how m-commerce was born. 

What is m-commerce? 

Mobile e-commerce (m-commerce for short) is, according to Technopedia, “a term that describes online sales transactions that use wireless electronic devices such as hand-held computers, mobile phones or laptops.” Essentially, m-commerce enables customers to purchase products or services online through their mobile devices, usually smartphones. 

Mobile usage is booming, pushing mobile commerce sales to record highs. To put things into perspective, recent InsiderIntelligence research predicts that retail m-commerce is set to account for 44.2% of all retail ecommerce sales in the US by 2025. That is almost half the market share, which means mobile has a good chance to dominate e-commerce in the years to come. 

How to boost your sales through m-commerce

Competition among m-commerce businesses is fierce. Keeping in mind that mobile has its shortcomings (most notably, smaller screens), everybody tries to create the best shopping experience for their users. 

So what can you do to improve the mobile visibility of your business and boost conversion rates? Well, making your e-commerce website more mobile friendly is a good place to start! 

Mobile-friendliness usually works on a spectrum, meaning there’s always room for improvement. There are a few key factors you should keep in mind as you’re optimizing your website for mobile, and as long as you tick these off your list, you should be well on your way to a mobile-friendly e-commerce website. 

1. Intuitive navigation 

As limiting as a smaller screen can be, you still need to make sure that all the important navigational features on your site are present and your pages are easy to find and access. 

2. Responsive design 

The mobile version of your website should look just as crisp and function just as well as the web version. No important elements should be left out, cut out or unresponsive. Thankfully, e-commerce tools such as Magento help with this aspect and much more. 

3. No heavy content 

Content is crucial to your e-commerce business for SEO and brand identity reasons, but chances are you won’t be able to fit all of it on a small screen without it being a nuisance for your potential customers. Do try to trim it down before making the switch to mobile. 

4. Easy checkout process 

This might be the most important factor to consider. The whole idea of m-commerce is to drive sales, and creating an easy to follow, straightforward checkout process is key. Adapt your content, design and forms to fit well on smaller screens and work in your customers’ favor. 

5. Few or no pop-ups 

Few things are more annoying than invasive mobile pop-ups that just won’t go away. They might serve an important purpose for your website but having too many of them will surely drive some customers away, so be sure to eliminate as many of them as you can. 

There’s no denying m-commerce is here to stay. According to a Deloitte study, over 40% of people who own a smartphone have already used it to do online shopping. That calls for a greater investment in mobile-centric e-commerce that will give your customers a great experience and convince them to buy from you again and again. 

Want to venture into m-commerce but don’t know where to start? That’s okay, Mejix can help! With passion and experience working in our favor, we craft or improve digital products, develop e-commerce websites and custom apps and market your products for maximum value and visibility.