Mobile e-Commerce Growing Rapidly

PayPal and Ipsos released some new numbers today showing that mobile commerce is growing at a compound rate of 34% compared to traditional ecommerce growing at only 14%.  This is great news for merchants who have already made the jump to responsive web design and is consistent with what we have been seeing across our customers.  A significant portion of traffic and sales is now coming in from mobile shoppers.

While the hype is great, it is important to point out that they are reporting that mobile ecommerce was $3.45 Billion in 2013.  While the projected 142% growth by 2016 sounds fantastic, I did some digging and found some statistics that say that total online sales in Canada in 2013 were $136 Billion.  So according to that number, mobile ecommerce is still a fraction of total ecommerce.  Statistics are tough to come by and can be conflicting.  I also found another site that listed B2C ecommerce in Canada as only $21 Billion in 2013.  Go figure.

So what are we to make of this?

1) The growth is real.  Anyone watching their Google Analytics will have seen the growth in mobile traffic and sales.

2) Traditional ecommerce continues to dominate.  Your mobile sales are unlikely to match your desktop sales.  No matter which statistics we use as our baseline, mobile ecommerce, even after the growth, is not about to catch up to traditional.

For me, the more interesting data is around the pre-shopping and in-store use of mobile devices.  Do you have a good price?  Your customers know.  Do you have it in stock? If your site doesn't tell me, I am not going to bother coming to your store. Should I buy this product? Online reviews help in store shoppers make up their minds.  Without a doubt, merchants have to be ready for the shift to mobile.

Check out the full press release here http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1489059/mobile-commerce-growth-poised-to-eclipse-online-commerce-in-canada