The Impact of Mobile Payment on E-commerce Industry

Everything is digital these days, your money too. The concept of E-Commerce, i.e. moving money through your phone, is pretty old, but mobile payments have definitely made an impact. E-Commerce was introduced to streamline financial transactions for the common man. The basis for this was the development of the internet. Similarly the advent of mobile payments came in the face of the growth in the number of mobile users worldwide.

Mobile Payments simply mean that your wallet is replaced by your smartphone. It is linked to your money in the bank and you can pay for your shopping by a simple click or wave. Today I’ll look at how mobile payments have left their mark on the payments landscape.

The Impact

Commerce refers to the act of trade i.e. buying and selling. E-commerce means the sale and purchase of products over the internet. Buying and selling; these two words are the key here. A market comes into being when a producer with a willingness to sell comes into contact with a consumer who has the will and ability to pay. In E-commerce all this will take pace online, in e commerce mobile payments all this will be done through your phone. Let us analyze the effects of digital wallets on both of these elements.

On The User

The life of the user has received a huge impact from mobile payments, almost an overwhelming amount. Lengthy procedures involving the swiping of a card and signing a receipt are now growing old and will become practically non-existent. The same goes for the need of carrying a wallet, a physical one that is to say. That’s right! No more bulge in your back pocket. Instead you carry all your money all the time and can access it whenever you want. The best part however, is that all your money is safe and sound. Even if your phone gets stolen, you can block your account so no one else can use it. The system is protected by multiple layers of security that make it almost foolproof, if not completely so.

When shopping online the savvy user can take advantage of targeted promotions and scan codes or just enter a verification on a mobile device to pay through their mobile phone or electronic wallet. As more and more people are shopping directly from their smartphones this can save entering bank details each time. It also provides a clear view of where their money is going, this is because transaction is recorded, making it easier to budget their incomes.

In simpler words, the user will not have to wait a very long time to check out with their shopping or enter lengthy forms or fill out bank details. They will also be ensured that money is safe and plentiful to use wherever they might be. Mobile Payments will change the user’s life unlike anything that came before. This is slowly taking off and pickup is accelerating all the time as more and more people turn towards mobile wallets for quick easy payments.

On The Merchant

Of course there is something for the merchants in all of this too. Well calling it something might be unjust. Merchants can enjoy some of the advantages of digital wallets like swiftness and safety of procedure but with further advantages for their business. The fast procedure will help them to serve more users in the same time. This means more users, which in turn will lead to more revenues and so more profits. Records will be digitized which is a whole lot better from the existing system of transactions. Also the merchants will be able to track their users. This doesn’t mean that they can keep tabs on customers 24/7. But it gives them data on product preferences and spending patterns so they can target promotions and giveaways to specific user groups who would benefit from them the most.  Some examples of this could be targeting new parents with promotions for child products or young women for beauty products.

The impact of the availability and application of these features has been truly great and will only continue to grow. All this contributes to better and healthier businesses, since there are no long lines anymore and people do not have the excuse of ‘I don’t have enough money to buy this today’. It’s excellent you know, because people will buy all they need in one go and soon come back because shopping through mobiles was so convenient.

If you want to know simply about the impact of mobile payments on e commerce, I’ll give you this. Soon the word E-Commerce will be overshadowed by a newer, more comprehensive word; M-Commerce.

This guest article was written by Syed Irfan. He is a serial entrepreneur, certified inbound marketer and author. He works for www.Tyre-Shopper.co.uk where you could buy tyres online.