Raising Bars for M-Commerce
August 9 , 2021
M-commerce ( mobile purchasing) has rapidly increased in recent years. In 2016, total sales were an estimated $1 trillion and just last year, this number tripled to $3 trillion. The most plausible explanation for this rise is the 30% increased time on shopping apps during the pandemic lockdown. As shops and stores were forced to close their doors, many turned their eyes to smartphones to purchase food, fashion and for entertainment.
While there have been some milestones to overcoming the global health crisis, it seems that the fight against the virus won’t be ending anytime in the near future. Digital sales is expanding greater than ever, some even say up to 5 times faster than expected, and this trend is expected to continue. In other words, the simplicity of m-commerce is fueling this growth, not only for Millennials and Gen Zs but for all ages and generations.
Following in this trends many fashion brands are focusing their efforts to enhance the shopping experience through their own brand apps. Russian designer footwear brand Lamonda is the prime example of merging AR advanced technology on their brand mobile commerce for maximum shopping experience to be possible.
On average, a consumer actives the Lamoda app twice every month. With the help of WANNABY AR technology developed by WANANA, the app shows the customers to try on 400 different types of foot wear. Adding on to this tech, Lamonda is aiming to ultimately lure customers to purchase products after using this technology.
Moreover, Lamoda is the first brand in Russia to have implemented Instagram shopping tags for Millennials and Gen Zs, which seems to be working. They are also experimenting in video ads to accelerated the shopping process. It is clear that Lamoda is using mobiles as a tool to provide more unique shopping experiences for their customers.
Another key example is Appnext. The app is the front runner in promoting the quick and customized app experience customers long for in a mobile in-app form. An AI powered technology ‘Timeline’ allows the app to provide personalized shopping experience using location and behavioral pattern data which is then displayed on the app home, in accordance to the users’ preferred language. This is the ideal mobile journey where app markers can make the most relevant suggestions and offerings for each individual user.
Appnext CEO Elad Natanson quoted his product as “ a competition to raise the stakes every day and to raise the bar for shopping experience,” adding that "AppNext's end-to-end technology-driven offerings will ultimately help mobile operators, handset manufacturers and device distributors work better with users, improve customer experience and brand loyalty."
This indicates that mobile shopping experience not only impact sales but also brand loyalty in the long run. With the demand of mobile commerce rising by the day, the competition of enhancing the shopping experience is also becoming more and more fierce.
Following this phenomenon, various solutions are being introduced. Solutions that take the merit of offline stores and combine it into e-commerce and mobile commerce into the unique category of fashion. These solutions will appeal to the MZ generation who have become the major consumer base. The key question that brands must ask themselves is whether these solutions will actually help lead to actual purchase and shopping.
