• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, July 16, 2013

Lots of insights around mobile commerce were bandied about at the MediaPost OMMA mCommerce conference in New York yesterday.

By the end of the day, it was clear that there’s a lot of work ahead and consumers are leading the charge.

Over time, I plan to highlight some of the astute observations made by some of the presenters over the course of the day, but for now, here’s a quick snapshot.

Some of the words of wisdom from the stage:

In the next three to five years, it will just be called commerce, without any prefix, such as M or E, said John Caron, vice president of marketing at Catalina.

With more than $35 billion in revenue, Mondelez is the world’s largest startup, said Bonin Bough, the company’s vice president, global media and consumer engagement in the opening keynote session.  In several years, every package sold will be connected to the Internet, he said.

It was well into the program before anyone on the stage uttered the overused buzzword of the day “omnichannel” (Donna Pahel from Giant Eagle, but she quickly caught herself).

There was discussion of privacy and consumer intrusion throughout the day. Laura Davis Taylor from BBDO noted that there’s a big difference between what could be done and what should be done, regarding mobile targeting.

On the state of mobile payments, 85% of transactions are still by either cash or check, said Ken Moy, senior vice president, group head of emerging payments at MasterCard.

Several people noted that much of the mobile shopping today actually happens in the home. Catalina’s Caron also pointed out that online shopping using a mobile phone is not mobile commerce, which involves engaging consumers in the physical store.

We heard from several angles that for location and targeting, the future holds much potential for measuring consumer intent and providing relevant value based on that intent.

Lots of impressive stats tossed around all day, such as:

• 97% of mobile shopping carts are abandoned
• From James Citron, CMO of Payvia, 10 times more people use mobile banking in Kenya than in the U.S.
• From Ken Moy at MasterCard, 70% of customers change items bought due to showrooming
• From Rob Roy, group vice president ecommerce at Time Warner Cable, 67% start shopping on one device and finish on another

The overall sense I got from the day is that there’s a long way to go in the world of mobile commerce but that there are many brains thinking about it and working on the road ahead.