A report from Juniper Research expects the worldwide value of mobile commerce transactions to exceed $3.2 trillion (£2.1 trillion) by 2017, up from $1.5 trillion this year. The banking sector is expected to account for the majority of this value, thanks to the increasing use of mobile devices to pay bills online.
The report notes that the retail, airline and financial industries have been emphasising the importance of the mobile channel, while many emerging markets are seeing mobile wallet services provide financial access to unbanked adults.
However, mCommerce still only represents a small fraction of all financial transactions - and its rollout is being hampered by a number of factors.
Dr Windsor Holden, research director at Juniper Research, said “A significant minority of retailers have yet to optimise their sites for mobile. Unless retailers ensure a seamless, user-friendly mobile shopping experience, they will fall behind competitors who are already using mobile channels to enhance customer relationships.”
[Whitepaper; report]