TELECOMS & MOBILE
Mobile users wary of shopping
11-12-2000
by Aoidin Scully
Just one in 10 users of wireless device users have shopped over their phones or personal digital assistants, according to a new survey by Anderson Consulting.
The survey of 2,370 wireless device users, in the US and Britain, showed many consumers have reservations about shopping over their mobile phones and PDAs, according to the Financial Times. Almost 60 percent of those polled saw no need to access the Internet over their phones.
Forrester Research predicts that m-commerce will account for USD3.4billion in retail sales by 2005 -- just 0.1 percent of total retail revenues, or 1.3 percent of all on-line sales. Many retailers have been hesitant to invest in m-commerce, given expectations that it will remain a relatively small part of the retail market for several years.
However, Jeffrey Luker, head of Anderson's North American retail practice, said retailers should view m-commerce as a way of differentiating themselves.
"Many retailers are caught in the morass of being average. There are too many boring retailers out there who are not going to survive," said Luker.
Luker likened the current climate to the early days of Internet retailing in 1995, saying established retailers had a rare opportunity to take the initiative in educating consumers about the benefits of m-commerce.
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