Commentary

The Global World of Mobile Commerce

There’s little doubt that mobile commerce is a global phenomenon.

In just the last couple of months, I’ve noticed a barrage of new announcements, trials and stats from around the world regarding various aspects of commerce.

Here, in no particular order, are some tidbits I’ve assembled (with sources), to provide a glimpse of some of what’s going on in the mCommerce world outside the U.S.

  • Japan – NHN Japan Corp. seeks to grow from its 100 million users to 1 billion and is spending $223 million to market its Line mobile messenger app as it expands into its secret sales program on mobile. (NHN Japan)
  • Australia – Supermarket chain Coles launches trial mobile payment system using MasterCard Mobile Wallet. (Coles)
  • Russia – To help drive growth of its mobile wallet, payment provider Oiwi Plc seeks to raise $100 million in an IPO in the U.S. (SEC filing)
  • China – The top online stores in China saw purchases made via mobile devices increase 600% from the last year with 300 million mobile visitors, 57 million of whom made a mobile purchase. (Alibaba)
  • Pakistan – Mobile phone banking called a game-changer in banking, mCommerce and financial inclusion. (State Bank of Pakistan)
  • Europe – Visa signs three-year deal to develop and expand across Europe mobile money solutions that support mobile banking and payments. (Montise)
  • Asia Pacific – Luxury fashion brand Gucci announces plans to launch a mobile commerce optimized site in the Asia Pacific market to facilitate mobile shopping. (Gucci)
  • Indonesia – More than half (55%) of Indonesian consumers used their smartphone to shop within the last three months. (MasterCard)
  • United Kingdom – KFC teams with Airtag launching in-store trials of mobile ordering in 10 restaurants across the UK.  (KFC UK).  An estimated $1.2 billion will be spent via mobile shopping within a year. (Conlumino). Already this year, 59% of consumers have made a purchase on a mobile device. (Stibo Systems)
  • Canada – McDonald’s launches NFC payments trial via BlackBerry smartphones. (McDonald’s)
  • Germany – Industry trade group The German Association for Telecoms and Media implements new rules for mobile commerce covering location-based services and payments. (Telecompaper)
  • Hong Kong – Visa and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council launch a mobile payment solution with about 100 jewelry retailers agreeing to adopt the service for small transactions. (Global Payments Asia)
  • South Africa – Shopping via mobile accounts for more than 5% of the gross value of sales at the top auction site, with projections of that doubling in the next few months. (Bidorbuy)

Commerce is coming to a world gone mobile.

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Save the date: The MediaPost mCommerce Summit, June 16-19, in Kohler, WI. The agenda.

3 comments about "The Global World of Mobile Commerce".
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  1. Chuck Martin from Chuck Martin, April 8, 2013 at 7:50 p.m.

    Well, Paula, not totally sure of your meaning here, but there sure is a lot of mobile commerce going on around the planet.

  2. Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited, April 9, 2013 at 8:26 p.m.

    We have dug ourselves so deeply into debt with easy credit and who profits from it ? Where did all that money go that was spent and gone ? Who has it ? What are they doing ? Sharing or celebrating ?

  3. Chuck Martin from Chuck Martin, April 9, 2013 at 8:29 p.m.

    Got it, thanks for clarifying.

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