As Apple launch a digital wallet, analysts predict mobile commerce to explodeAussie consumers buying stuff via mobile or tablet, known as m-commerce, is set to double by 2019.
Local analysts Frost & Sullivan predict m-commerce will hit a market value of $54 billion by 2019, with spending on entertainment, music and TV shows set to soar.
Australians are increasingly using tablets or smartphones to purchase travel, insurance, cinema tickets, music, news and e-books, the research shows. Services, entertainment and physical goods are the leading online purchases.
Total expenditure via mobile devices is estimated to hit $22 billion this year.
This week, Apple also announced Pay digital wallet, a new way of paying for goods online and instore, which is also likely to propel the online payments industry forward.
60% of all consumers aged between 15-65 have made at least one m-commerce purchase in the last year in Oz.
“Australia’s shoppers are using their mobile devices to research products, check where they can buy products and whether they are in-stock, compare prices whilst in-store, get feedback from their friends via social media, and to purchase products. 28% of consumers frequently conduct research on products and services before coming to a retail store,” says Phil Harpur, Frost & Sullivan analyst.
$13 billion will be spent on travel and financial services – the largest category, followed by physical goods ($6bn), while purchases of tickets, e-books and other digital content is estimated to hit $1.6 billion, this year.
“Entertainment is envisaged to be the fastest growing segment with a CAGR of 26%, with thrust from the strong uptake of paid music, movies and TV shows and games,” says Harpur.
Online news, online magazines and e-books will also display very high growth as written content shifts online.
Mobile devices are becoming an integral part of omni-channel retailing as its immediacy allows online retailers opportunities to engage shoppers with relevant offers when they are making buying decisions, encouraging impulse purchasing, say analysts.
Tablets are also a very important tool in assisting retailers but Frost & Sullivan warns a large proportion of Australian retailers that are not capitalising on the benefits possible from using tablets as a tool this way.
Mobile ownership is reach saturation and expenditure will be propelled more by greater willingness of consumers to transact on mobile devices than by further increases in mobile penetration.
87% of Australians over 15 years of age currently own a smartphone, up from 73% in 2013. Over 60% of Australians aged between 15- 65 now regularly use a tablet.
