Stories

 

In a recent study conducted by Ipsos and commissioned by PayPal, we took a look at the latest trends in mobile commerce (mCommerce) across the globe. It’s no surprise that consumers are buying on mobile at a rate greater than ever before. That’s why we also looked into key trends related to mobile shopping habits and merchant readiness, how security remains top-of-mind in English speaking countries, and the fact that shopping on social platforms is growing at an unprecedented rate – despite being a relatively new phenomena.

 

Businesses must offer mobile optimized experiences if they are interested in attracting and maintaining younger consumers, such as Gen Z and Gen Y. Across all age groups, nearly 80% of the consumers we surveyed have shopped via smartphone – yet only 63% are optimized to accept mobile payments. That’s a 15-percentage-point gap in businesses who are missing out by not taking advantage of the explosive growth of mobile commerce.

 

For millions of small businesses around the world, offering a seamless mobile experience has not been a priority to ensuring their businesses’ survival. However, if these businesses were to prioritize mobile, it could lead to fewer abandoned carts and sales from 15% more potential customers.

 

Across the world:

 

Security and trust are significant considerations in consumers’ mobile purchasing decisions. Globally, 51% of consumer respondents would be less likely to engage with mobile commerce due to security concerns, but certain countries, including Japan, are the less concerned about this by a rate of nearly half (28%). In contrast, the markets surveyed that are the most concerned about security when purchasing via mobile include UK (64%), Australia (63%), and the US (58%) – all English-speaking markets. Merchants have also expressed high levels of concern over the security of mobile commerce; the top barrier for merchants in optimizing for mobile is security concerns, with 1 in 5 merchants stating hesitation due to an interest in ensuring customer data is well-secured.

 

Supply and demand for social commerce is aligned between consumers and merchants, with 1 in 3 merchant respondents – and 1 in 3 consumer respondents – sharing they utilize social commerce. However, the prevalence of social commerce varies based on geography – with the highest popularity in India, where 57% of consumers have reported using social commerce in the past 6 months. When it comes to the types of social platforms most frequently used on a global level, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are in the lead (35% of respondents that utilize social commerce do so on Facebook properties). As social commerce grows in popularity, there will be an increasingly a close eye on the data collected during the social shopping experience and its potential implications, especially with research showing security is top-of-mind for both consumers and merchants.

 

Additional insights uncovered from the research, include:

 

 

 

By putting these insights to work and partnering with experts, like PayPal, business owners should feel well-equipped to take on the world of selling online. Looking to 2020 and beyond, there is more potential than ever for merchants to improve the shopping experience for all consumers, while addressing preferences of unique markets. Merchants can take advantage of the rise of mobile and social commerce by working with a partner that enables them to create better digital experiences, while helping them capture more sales, and ultimately drive growth.