Mobile Commerce – essential for retailers as consumer confidence soars

Mobile commerce is driving more and more sales for British e-businesses, according to an industry-leading survey by payment processor, Sage Pay. The third annual Sage Pay e-Business Benchmark Report of 1,500 online businesses in the UK shows a jump in the past 12 months in businesses championing mobile apps and optimisation – with encouraging results. 

The report findings reveal that large e-businesses are rapidly adapting to the rise in mobile, with 22% building mobile apps in the last year and 73% choosing to optimise their sites for mobile commerce.

A quarter of app-enabled businesses are now seeing 10% to 19% of sales coming via mobile devices, and over half of all respondents boasting apps (56%) are generating up to 10% of transactions through the add on.

“As the UK e-commerce market continues to mature, the margins between success and failure become even finer. In this year’s report, the differentiators we saw a year ago are now the norm across all retailers. This pressure to stay at the cutting edge is driving UK e-commerce to new levels of sophistication,” comments Simon Black, CEO of Sage Pay.

“The results of the Report prove that taking advantage of the mobile opportunity is critical to stimulating economic growth in the UK. With almost half of the businesses surveyed planning to introduce mobile apps in the coming months, Britain is poise for a bright future at the leading edge of mobile innovation.”

On the social front, Facebook continues to play a role in the evolution of online commerce activities – although to a lesser extent than its mobile counterparts. Just 15% of survey respondents have a Facebook store with embedded payment pages and only 36% of respondents plan to set one up within the year. Of the 24% that don’t have Facebook, the main reason given was lack of relevance for their business or perceived ability to generate sales over and above the website.

·         73% of businesses now optimised for mobile commerce, with 18% spending upwards of £1000 on the transition into mobile

·         Mobile-fuelled growth is on the rise with a quarter of respondents with dedicated apps reporting between 10% and 19% of their sales from mobile devices

·         Mobile innovation set to double next year with 48% of respondents planning apps in next year

·         Facebook a lower priority with only 36% planning to set-up a dedicated store 

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