The Contribution of SmartphonesTowards e-commerce Industry

Technological trends of today have brought Smartphones right to the top of the ladder. They are easy to use, portable, have the latest technologies of today, and are seen to be replacing desktop PCs and laptops. There is a remarkable switch of consumers towards Smartphones from other electronics. The trend of increasing convenience shopping and the rising use of smartphones are resulting in a transfer of the market’s share from brick-and-mortar retailers to online businesses.

Smartphones have in them, the online stores such as Google Play, Windows Store, Nokia Ovi store, and Apple’s online store. These stores offer software free of cost, or paid applications that users can download. The payment of these applications can be done through credit card/debit cards on the application payment method form and voila! The payment has been processed and the application is ready to use. This has reduced time consumption and has made the purchase of products online much easier. 

The e-commerce industry saw this trend as a great opportunity and thus began the spree of opening up e-commerce companies selling products online. This year, 15% of online retail sales will take place via mobile devices, according to eMarketer, up from 11% in 2012. By 2017, the percentage will rise to 25%. Popular names include Amazon, Walmart, Ebay, Kaymu, Hallmark, and so on. Products can be bought online with all details of the product such as size, color, dimensions, guarantees, and all relevant details online. Pictures of the front and backside of the products are also shown. Some e-commerce companies offer to sell products online as well and act as the platform of connection between the buyer and seller such as Kaymu Application.

All purchases and sales can be made with a few clicks of your smartphone. Smartphones have all the required technology to do so, making it efficient in such fast-paced times of today. Applications are now specially designed for Smartphone operating systems which allow consumers to survey new products on the go. There is no need to go to the market anymore. The market is nowhere in front of you through smartphone’s applications.  The growth of internet accessibility and switches towards smartphones is explosive.

Thus the interconnectivity among people through social media and social networking is also helping as an effective sales and marketing channel for E-commerce business. Consumers prefer the convenience offered by online shopping over traveling to physical stores to purchase items, barring grocery shopping, which is still done at traditional stores. Smartphones allow the same grocery to be delivered at home with payment on cash or via credit/debit card. Smartphones regularly update their systems through the use of the internet and provide quality use to the consumers. As the consumer is familiar with the smartphone interface, a trust system has seemed to emerge of products online.

Earlier, there were doubts of faulty products or a fear of cyber-crime.With the new techniques of payment and more innovative methods, smartphones are now widely in use.E-commerce has expanded greatly as Smartphones have allowed access to all those households and individuals could not afford desktop or laptop PCs but also those who afford a Smartphone and can purchase products online.