• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, October 11, 2013

Some retailers may be getting on the mobile commerce train.

A new survey finds that most retailers are starting to take mobile commerce seriously, with most (79%) saying it is very important.

This is an increase from 59% who answered that way last year, according to the survey by Internet Retailer.

One of the drivers seems to be that merchants are becoming more positive about getting mobile sales.

With so many shoppers walking around stores with their smartphones at the ready, this is no surprise.

About a third (32%) of the retailers surveyed are relatively bullish on the future of mobile says, expecting mobile sales growth this year of between 26 and 100 percent.

As found in other studies, almost all of the shopping traffic comes from Apple and Android devices, with more from iOS.

In the course of just a year, the outlook by retailers in this survey shows that the view of mobile commerce is becoming more positive.

But beyond mobile websites and apps, many retailers are going to have to face how they interact with in-store mobile shoppers.

It used be that having an app was seen as end game. Then mobile websites became important.

Then location-based targeting. Then QR codes. Then augmented reality (AR). And of course, SMS and MMS held their own through all of this. And NFC is around the corner.

The point is that being ready for mobile shopping means more than doing one or two of the above.

It means re-tooling everything, including pre-store visits, in-store interactions both digitally and physically and all modes of checkout and payments.

Between recognizing the coming import of mobile commerce and effectively harnessing all that can be done can be a long, hard road.

At least some are getting on the road.