The world has been subjected to tremendous technological innovations and developments over the recent years that have improved the quality of life (Ballenger, 2007). The recent trends in electronic commerce and mobile web design have proved that mobile e-commerce is growing at a faster rate than initially expected. Nonetheless, the fact that most people are not convinced enough to use mobile apps to shop means that mobile e-commerce has not yet taken over the world. The trend is, however, growing significantly with approximately 30% of people across the world preferring to use mobile apps to make purchases (Aziz et al., 2016). In a study that was conducted to analyze e-commerce traffic from different devices, 62% of total orders that are made worldwide are made using desktops, 25% using mobile devices and 13% made using tablets (Aziz et al., 2016).
In a research that was conducted to determine how eMerketer projections will be realized, it was made apparent that one of the core reasons as to why desktops are more preferred compared to mobile apps is the fact that their conversion rates are high (Aoyama, 2013). Thus, the conversion rates should be improved to improve user interactivity. It was also discovered that some retailers have no streamlined mobile checkouts with others preferring the functionality and efficiency that desktops offer while handing over money. Additionally, the fact that some mobile app users are impatient also means that it is usually difficult for them to make online purchases using mobile platforms (Ghandour, 2015).
According to Bruck and Rao (2013), most people prefer the use of mobile devices for primary shopping that involves preliminary product selection and research. Some of the common research items that are included in the research include checking for prices and finding out the locations of stores (Zhou, Zhang & Zimmermann, 2013). The increase in the number of people who use emails around the globe has also been very instrumental in the development of e-commerce. It was discovered that most people and especially the young people prefer having marketing emails sent to their mobile devices because they check their emails frequently. In fact, approximately more than 50% of all marketing emails are opened using mobile devices. Thus, despite the fact that SMS e-commerce is still at infancy, the progression trend that it possess is a clear indication of a bright future (Ozok & Wei, 2010).
Studies have proved that apps are critical aspects that contribute to mobile use in e-commerce platforms (Kamaruzaman, Handrich & Sullivan, 2010). Precisely, most e-commerce customers find the use of mobile apps more preferable. Another significant realization that was made in the analysis of recent trends in e-commerce and mobile web design was that most mobile users are also users of social media (Bruck & Rao, 2013). Thus, there has been a significant transition in which e-commerce platforms send notifications to the social media platforms after the purchase have been made by the users. Researchers have also been imperative that the trend in mobile shopping will take over sooner than later because of the efficiency that it provides to the users. For instance, most mobile shoppers are happy that they can order for goods online and pick them at the nearest stores (Ballenger, 2007).
It is thus clear that mobile commerce is inherently multi-dimensional. The capability that it provides is not entirely tied down to technological developments as argued by Hossain (2012). Instead, it is because a majority of mobile users are evolving at a faster rate compared to technologies. Each day mobile users are willing to try something different. Hence, the fact that it is difficult to track the journey of the customers means that mobile web designers should redirect more focus on personalization (Hossain, 2012). That is because e-commerce platforms that are able to hold their customers have higher chances of maintaining a high competitive advantage. Thus, it is important that electronic commerce platforms should take the position of mobile web designs because it could be a survival tool for the future (Wilson, 2015).
- Aoyama, Y. (2013). Sociospatial dimensions of technology adoption: recent M-commerce and E-commerce developments. Environment and Planning A, 35(7), 1201-1221.
- Aziz, Z., Anumba, C. J., Ruikar, D., Carrillo, P., & Bouchlaghem, D. (2016). Intelligent wireless web services for construction—A review of the enabling technologies. Automation in Construction, 15(2), 113-123.
- Ballenger, R. M. (2007). An eCommerce Development Case: Your Company’s eCommerce Web Site. Journal of Information Systems Education, 18(4), 409.
- Bruck, P. A., & Rao, M. (2013). Global mobile: Applications and innovations for the worldwide mobile ecosystem. Information Today, Inc..
- Ghandour, A. (2015). eCommerce Website Value Model for SMEs. International Journal of Electronic Commerce Studies, 6(2), 203.
- Hossain, M. S. (2012, May). Performance evaluation web testing for ecommerce web sites. In Informatics, Electronics & Vision (ICIEV), 2012 International Conference on (pp. 842-846). IEEE.
- Kamaruzaman, K. N., Handrich, Y. M., & Sullivan, F. (2010). E-commerce adoption in Malaysia: Trends, issues and opportunities. ICT strategic review, 11.
- Ozok, A. A., & Wei, J. (2010). An empirical comparison of consumer usability preferences in online shopping using stationary and mobile devices: results from a college student population. Electronic Commerce Research, 10(2), 111-137.
- Wilson, D. E. (2015). Web content and design trends of Alabama academic libraries. The Electronic Library, 33(1), 88-102.
- Zhou, L., Zhang, P., & Zimmermann, H. D. (2013). Social commerce research: An integrated view. Electronic commerce research and applications, 12(2), 61-68.
