mCommerce Summit in Review

Earlier this year we had the chance to attend the mCommerce Summit in New York City. Some of the best and brightest from Target, eBay, Sunkist, and others presented some great information, provided tips, and shared their thoughts on where mobile commerce is heading. We’ll get into some details soon, but here’s a hint: it’s the future.

There’s really no getting around it. Even for us, folks who spend every day in the interactive space championing a “mobile-first” approach to many of our clients, the statistics were absolutely staggering. Take a look at some of the highlights below:

According to Nielsen, as of Q2 2012 more US consumers will have smartphones than regular phones. Smartphones are described as devices able to access the web and rich media content. A whole lot of really granular data was provided on what smartphone owners do with their time, but the real takeaway was that just over 50% use them for shopping at least some of the time. That means that by next year at least one quarter of the US population will be buying stuff on their cell phones.

Morgan Stanley projects that by 2015 more people will shop via mobile device than laptop or desktop computer. Many of the panelists, both retailers and industry service providers, cited data showing how rapidly people are adopting mobile commerce. The growth of m-commerce is exponential, and all presenters agreed that the industry has passed the tipping point. 74% of retailers with an online shop currently have or are developing a mobile shopping experience. Forrester Research dropped this little gem on us, and it speaks to what our clients have been telling us for a while now: If you aren’t planning for and building a mobile presence now, you’re going to get left behind. It’s already happening.

Apps or Mobile Site? It’s a case-by-case thing. Bigwigs from HSN, Carrabbas Italian Grill, and Target all had varying opinions, and this panel saw the most crowd involvement. It really comes down to your objectives, your audience, and your budgets. Everyone agreed though: trying to do an app “just because” is a terrible, expensive idea.

eBay is projecting four BILLION dollars in mobile sales this year. Ok, so this one is a bit more specific but still... that’s billion, with a B. eBay even went a step further and pointed out that over 4,000 people bought a car through their mobile website/apps in the past year. Sure, they’re eBay, but just think about that for a second. People are buying cars through their cell phones; are you sure they wouldn’t buy whatever you’re selling?

So there it is. it was a great event with some great information. The key takeaway? Exactly what you might expect: mobile commerce, and mobile browsing in general, isn’t going anywhere. Within the next couple of years it won’t be the exception, it’ll be the rule. The question is - how will you adapt? Get moving and tell us in the comments.