Rumours and predictions around the rise of mobile ecommerce (mcommerce) have been around and increasing for a number of years. The actual growth of mcommerce has lagged behind predictions. A study by Nielsen shows that only 4% of the predicted number of mobile phone users purchased using their mobile phone. This article explores four reasons why.

1. Size matters

Mobile phones are notoriously hard to use. First off, readability on a small screen is reduced compared to normal displays due to the smaller size and also the lack of color depth and contrast. Secondly, it’s harder to input using a mobile phone. Small keys are clumsy and text input is slow even with word recognition. Of course, these issues are fixed more and more with newer mobiles phones.

2. Adoption by online merchants

The same study by Nielsen as mentioned above also found that only 7% of online retailers had an mcommerce site in late 2008. It is logical then that mobile commerce has not yet reached stratosphere: customers need the facilities to shop using their mobile phones. Two reasons for the lack of adoption by online merchants come to mind. First off, it is possible that standard eCommerce software in use today offers too little options for mobile commerce, causing the merchants to postpone investing in mcommerce. Secondly shop owners might reason along the likes of “if mobile commerce is not yet that popular, why should I invest in it?”. Of course, that would be a chicken and the egg kind of situation. What’s needed is more critical mass and software that makes it relatively easy to build for the mobile phone as well as the web. As an example, eCommerce platform Magento has iPhone support built in.

3. Speed

Browsing using a mobile phone is slow. Ordering in a web shop usually takes a couple of pages where long product lists, forms, user feedback and other information have to be displayed. A web shop is among the most interactive of web systems and typically this causes more traffic. A lot of sites which have an appearance optimized for mobile phones, offer a bare set of information on the landing page. On eCommerce systems, even the bare information can take a while to get processed. Another issue is with ties to third party systems. When for instance payments are processed at a 3rd party payment service provider (PSP) and that PSP does not have a layout optimized for mobile phones, it can get slow (and hard to use) for mobile visitors.

4. Trust

Placing an order using a mobile phone takes more of the visitor’s trust than a regular web order, at least in the visitor’s perception. After all, they might think the information they submit can be grabbed “out of the air”. Tying into the first point: there is also less room on screen to display reassuring information such as warranties, seals of approval, certificates and such.

It appears the wait for the mobile commerce revolution is the wait for critical mass: smart shop owners are prepared before then!

add.: A valued reader pointed out that another major reason is that people think of mobile phones primarily as a tool for calling and texting. Browsing is a function less associated with a mobile phone, shopping online even less. This is probably due to habit but might also be a consequence of the reasons above.