Global ecommerce sales via mobiles may touch USD 638 billion mark by 2018 - report

The availability of ecommerce applications on various mobile devices is helping drive sales, according to the Associated Chambers of Commerce of India (Assocham)-Deloitte, livemint.com reports. Flipkart and Amazon are registering 50% of their revenues from consumers shopping on their mobile phones, according to Assocham secretary-general D.S. Rawat.

However, while shoppers want real-time, relevant, and personalised information and offers, retailers need to ensure this service comes with very strong privacy and security. Trust, transparency and protecting customer information will be critical to retaining loyalty as mobile retailing becomes the norm, stated the joint study. The launch of wearables such as Google Glass and Apple Watch opens up newer avenues for reaching out to customers.

E-marketplaces are seeing a significant growth with the increase in internet penetration and smartphone usage, and internet-connected handsets are making shopping a unique experience for buyers. The non-inventory-led B2C model also allows the ecommerce players to provide attractive discounts and offers that are difficult for inventory-led brick-and-mortar shops as well as e-tailers only, the study pointed out. On the mode of payment, cash-on-delivery is the most preferred option in India, with 45% of shoppers using it, while 21% opt for debit cards and another 16% credit cards.