A new report from Juniper Research has found that annual retail payments on mobile handsets and tablets are expected to reach 707bn USD by 2018, representing 30% of all eRetail by that time. This compares with mobile retail spend of 182bn USD last year, when mobile accounted for around 15% of eRetail.

The report – Mobile Payment for Digital & Physical Goods: Opportunities & Forecast 2014-2018 – found that leading retailers were increasingly developing strategies built around mobile, using it as a ‘hub’ facilitating payment, product discovery and customer retention. As a result, it found that the size and scale of purchases across both smartphones and tablets was increasing strongly. However, for users owning both devices there was a strong trend towards browsing on the mobile while completing the purchase on the tablet, and that by the end of 2013 global per month retail spend on tablets had eclipsed that on handsets.

Addressing the ‘Showrooming’ Trend

{{The report also highlighted the increasing trend towards ‘showrooming’}}, where consumers examine retailer products in-store while simultaneously browsing on their mobiles to compare prices online. It argued that retailers need to adapt their strategies to incorporate this activity, by deploying tablets equipped with mPOS (mobile Point of Sale) capability throughout the store, while also introducing a price match option.

According to report author Dr Windsor Holden, ‘This means that not only is the retailer proactively offering the consumer the opportunity to price check in-store, but that the purchase can be made immediately, without having to queue elsewhere in the store.’

However, the report cautioned that while retailers were increasingly optimising their sites for mobile handsets, only a small minority had done so for tablets.

Other findings from the report include:

• ‘Cyber Monday’ in 2013 saw retail sales via mobiles and tablets approach 400m USD in the US alone.
• For digital goods purchases, storefronts that implement direct carrier billing solutions can monetise younger demographics and unbanked users for the first time.

The ‘Retail in the Palm of Your Hand’ whitepaper is available to download from the Juniper website together with further details of the full report and the attendant Interactive Forecast Excel, which enables clients to interrogate the assumptions behind Juniper’s forecasts and create alternative future outputs.

Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.