U.S. retailers may be about to experience rapid growth in m-commerce


From August 2007

By M.V. Greene

Mobile commerce may soon be pulling onto the retailer fast track. mPoria, a Seattle-based vendor, believes it has positioned technology to push adoption of m-commerce -- or the mobile web -- in the United States, and a growing number of retailers are seizing the opportunity to target increasingly ubiquitous mobile phone users.

“Technology infrastructure has gotten to a place in the mobile environment where it is a compelling experience for consumers,” says mPoria CEO Dan Wright. As recently as three years ago, “if you tried to do a mobile store on a mobile phone, there were probably only a half dozen handsets in the United States that it would look good on.”

Marry the burgeoning number of mobile phone users – approximately 76 percent of U.S. households, according to trade group CTIA-The Wireless Association – with the emerging m-commerce trend, and the possibilities become clear.

Mobile commerce differs from traditional e-commerce – most strikingly, perhaps, in the way browsers are employed. While only a few web browsers support Internet-based commerce, dozens of browsers populate the mobile web because of the many types of mobile devices. Another key differentiator is the form factor: screen size limits the ability of consumers to perform research on the mobile web.

“When there’s a lot of research involved -- let’s say for a minivan or a custom-made suit -- then it is less likely” consumers will embrace the mobile web for that type of purchase, Wright says.

Products that do make sense on the mobile web include tickets, videogames, some apparel, electronics, books, CDs and DVDs.

mPoria’s shopping portal and GoMobile! m-commerce solution are configured to offer merchandise to the more than 230 million U.S. consumers that mPoria says are shopping on mobile phones and devices. Merchants adopting the service include brands like GameStop, Buy.com, TicketsNow, Cutter & Buck, Moosejaw Mountaineering, TMG Electronics, Cosmetic Mall, Bundle City, Prestigecamera.com and Dialgift.com.

GoMobile! is a turnkey solution that enables merchants to launch a mobile shopping site quickly from a web-based interface. mPoria hosts the solution on its own platform, reducing in-house development by the merchant, and the technology is able to link to a variety of mobile handsets offered by major U.S. wireless carriers like Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel and AT&T.

Mobile phones lack the processing power and memory capability of computers that support e-commerce, and mobile web browsers are designed specifically for that reduced functionality. “If you tried to run CNN.com on your mobile phone it wouldn’t work,” Wright says. “The browsers aren’t designed to read typical Internet sites.”

Merchants use a wizard to establish a site by uploading branding information, product offerings and tax and billing procedures. mPoria offers four different service tiers, with a basic package beginning at $39.99 per month after a one-time set-up charge of $69.99.

Consumers access mPoria shopping portals by entering a URL on their mobile devices. “Our server knows, based on the specific device model that is coming in, what it needs to send back to that device so that it looks good to the consumer,” Wright says.

Consumers can also perform general mobile searches to find shopping sites. When they are ready to make a purchase, the platform’s interface allows them to perform simple clicks; the system will secure and store encrypted consumer information for automatic billing and shipping on future purchases.

Tailored by demographics
GameStop, a videogame retail chain with more than 4,800 stores in the United States and 15 other countries, has thriving bricks-and-mortar and e-commerce businesses (the company topped the 2006 STORES Hot 100 list and is second this year).

John Brittell, GameStop’s vice president of e-commerce and direct marketing, says the company has been building its m-commerce platform since 2005 as a way to increase sales within the 18- to 35-year-old demographic.

The mobile web is a medium well suited to early technology adopters that dominate this demographic, and “we are always looking for opportunities to meet the unique buying needs of our customers.”

The lines between retail channels are becoming so blurred, Brittell says, that the most important issue is assuring that all channels work together. For instance, GameStop routinely will alert customers via the mobile web when new games and products are launched or updated, prompting them to place orders from their phones, visit the company’s website or come into their local store.

Helping to spur m-commerce adoption are improvements in technology, such as providing the capability to find addresses by merely entering a store’s phone number.

TicketsNow, which sells sports and entertainment tickets via the secondary market, has been eyeing the development path of m-commerce in the United States for more than two years. The platform presents an opportunity to establish the brand and get its products and offerings in front of consumers in that market space, says director of e-commerce Joe Domek.

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