Here’s an idea of what your future mobile strategy could be: Contextual location will be key to mainstream retail experiences ten years from now, enabling brands to identify a user’s location, to deliver targeted and timely information.
Mobile devices have become a key platform for retailers to target customers and drive conversions, with more brands optimising their sites for mobile shopping. A research report from Ovum predicts the dominance of mobile will increase even further over the next ten years, completely transforming the way customers browse and shop online – requiring businesses to map out a future mobile strategy.
Retail will become increasingly competitive in the years leading up to 2026. But how exactly will mCommerce evolve?
To survive, brands must adapt quickly to evolving trends and understand the important role that smart new technologies play in engaging customers and keeping them coming back in the future.
Here are some key trends to watch out for you to stay relevant over the next decade.
Android will eclipse Apple
Globally, Android-based smartphones will dominate the market and completely take over Apple. This has huge implications for Android-based payment apps like Android Play, which will have enormous opportunities for potential scale in the future. To come out on top, brands will need to ensure that their in-app offerings for Android devices are second to none.
Mobile payments will skyrocket
In the years leading up to 2026, mobile payments will grow from about 452.78 million global users in 2014 to 2.07 billion users in 2019. Mobile proximity payments (in-store m-payments) will also ramp up, with the global user base for mobile proximity payments growing rapidly to 1.09 billion users by 2019. Smart retailers will need to have a frictionless mobile experience in place to keep customers loyal.
Contextual location takes center stage
Over the next decade, contextual location will be a key part of mainstream retail experiences, which allows brands to identify a user’s location, to deliver targeted, timely and contextually relevant information.
There will also be a growing focus on hyperlocal commerce, which is precise targeting within a highly defined location (both outdoors and in building). By 2026, hyperlocal applications will be more widespread, with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons forecast to be a key enabling technology for the trend. BLE beacons are tiny units with built-in sensors, used to broadcast signals to BLE-enabled devices in range, triggering corresponding applications on a device. Keeping abreast of these emerging technologies will be paramount, if retailers want to engage their customers with information that is relevant to an individual, at that exact time.
Mobile will have an instrumental role to play in the future of retail. Those who prepare and adapt quickly will have the best chance of leading the competition, all the way through to 2026.
Pressy Sankaran, ANZ Commercial Director, Criteo
