10 Mobile Commerce Trends That Are Shaping The Future
No single business, whatever it is, that’s worth its salt would ignore mobile apps. It’s one of the most sought developing sectors that everyone is pouring in tons of research into. A mobile app is simply software that can be installed on a smartphone.
This simple formula has led to an explosion in many different fields of the digital world, from finance to social media platforms. The mobile app industry which offers more than 5 million apps to the world is fairly young.
The introduction to apps was official when Apple announced the launch of the app store in 2008. Since then, the evolution of mobile apps has been surfing a very high wave that isn’t only not crashing, but also getting bigger.
Research shows that 194 billion apps were downloaded across the globe in 2018 alone.
It’s estimated that this figure will rise to 260 billion by 2022. This field is one of the most competitive fields in the digital industry. A lot of businesses are prioritizing the development and launching of mobile apps to stay in the race.
A lot of new trends seem to have an impact on the future of mobile commerce and some even have the power to change it dramatically.
Here are the top 10 trends that are currently revolutionizing the mobile commerce industry.
1. Blockchain
If there is one thing that revolutionized the economic systems and finance industry, it’s blockchain technology. It started with Bitcoin more than 10 years ago and it has kept growing ever since. The decentralization approach has found its huge fanbase amongst leading technology businesses and banks.
A simple search for blockchain applications on the App Store or Google Play will yield thousands of apps that use blockchain technology to facilitate different functions. While the vast majority are designed for cryptocurrencies like e-wallets and converters, it’s also used in other complicated projects like the art-sharing apps Verisart.
The main advantage of blockchain technology is that it provides paramount security making it the first choice for apps that deal with sensitive information.
Banks are investing in blockchain technology to facilitate authorization and reduce malicious hacking. Transactions are clear with little risk of exploitation, not to mention their speeds. This made it very attractive for mobile commerce applications as it checked many of the required boxes.
2. Cloud-Based Apps
At first, the cloud sounded like a mythological process to the average user. As soon as different big organizations and businesses started taking an interest in it, people became more educated about how the cloud works and how it’s beneficial for everyone.
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Cloud technology made it easier for businesses to scale their infrastructure with almost no limits. Accessing data didn’t only become easier on mobile apps, but also recovering data in a very short time.
People aren’t worried that their data will be gone due to innocent errors thanks to backup mobile applications. It’s becoming integral in brand awareness campaigns and many commerce practices.
Read here for more information about cloud-based apps.
3. Location-Based Service
Location-based services (LBS) are driving a lot of businesses to utilize features like geographical location to their advantage. The technology uses built-in GPS features in smartphones to deduce the location of the phone. This makes it a clear winner in shaping the mobile commerce industry as a lot of businesses are using it to present products to consumers in a very personalized way.
4. Mobile Payment
It was a mobile payment that led many industry giants to invest in mobile commerce. The advantages of mobile payments are convenience, speed, and security. It allowed more options than its predecessor. The credit card, and gave businesses a lot of flexibility for things like automatic control of payment, invoice production, and extra interfaces used for communication with consumers.
5. Wearables
A lot of people couldn’t have seen wearable devices to be doing an impact on mobile commerce. It was surprising when big tech industries started innovating and developing them to the level we see today and expect.
These gadgets can be used to take advantage of personal information like the body’s state to target the audience with a very personalized range of products. This made developers, businesses, and even accessory makers want to join in on the trend. The future looks quite promising for wearables and mobile commerce.
Read here for a case study about wearables: How to Start a Phone Case Business in 2021? Action Steps
6. Internet of Things
It seems that the internet is also evolving and it becoming integrated with objects that no one could’ve ever thought they’d be utilized; things like toys, fridges, and many others. This is helping “smarten” everyday objects and it can be seen as a way to breathe new life into un-animate objects.
A study shows that over 26 billion IoT devices are already connected and with the expectation that this number will rise to 75 billion in less than 6 years. This is very beneficial for mobile commerce as it allows the monitoring of devices and sensors, data analysis, and flexible management of devices.
7. AR and VR
Augmented reality and virtual reality technologies are aiding in the leap of technological advance greatly. While it’s hard to see these technologies fully utilized yet, they are clearly on their way to be one of the leading elements in shaping the future of entertainment and commerce.
A lot of apps are being designed to be used with headsets that allow for a smoother and more realistic shopping experience and that’s only the beginning. Thanks to the interest of countless industries in these technologies, mobile commerce will get to take advantage of it as well pretty soon.
You’ll also like to read: Difference Between VR and AR and How to Use Them for Online Stores
8. AI and Machine Learning
Artificial intelligence was something that used to be brought out only in a science-fiction context. Nowadays, AI and machine learning are changing the way consumers shop every day.
You can now see apps that provide automated chatting bots and virtual assistants, motion recognition, forecasting solutions, speech recognition, and many others.
A lot of billions-worth commerce companies are using it to provide suggestions for shoppers based on their history of shopping. It’s also being used for marketing purposes to personalize ads towards the right audiences and reduction of unnecessary campaigns.
9. Progressive Web Apps
With Google’s launching and spearheading of the project, progressive web apps gained momentum in a very short time. It allowed different websites to look like their writing with their native programming languages.
To understand it in more simple terms, this allowed websites to gain a myriad of new functionalities and capabilities in a very short time compared to their traditional counterparts.
PWA increased the loading speed of websites, allowed offline use, removed the need to download or install, and increased compatibility. Mobile commerce is taking advantage of native mobile apps and websites to make the shopping experience smoother and more convenient.
10. Instant Apps
Instant Apps is another impressive trendy technology by Google, designed for Android operating systems. As the name suggests, it offers instant loading of the main part of apps without the need to download or install it.
This allows users to view the necessary part of the application that they need, increasing the speed, performance, and efficiency of apps overall. It’s being integrated into mobile commerce applications as it offers more freedom to shoppers by allowing them to shop on multiple platforms quickly and with convenience.
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Final Words
It seems that the wave of mobile commerce trends is rising hard and revolutionizing the way consumers shop and interact with online stores.
The future looks promising with great potential for further personalization and targeting. The frequency of updates and innovation is multiplying and we can reap the benefits of the future as soon as possible.
