Boy, you take a few months off to have a baby and the world changes. I don’t think RCR had used the term m-commerce when I left in early February to have Jack Ford, my own little spinoff. We were wondering if we should change his name to jackford.com to see if his value increased any, but we resisted since he’s already priceless.
But I digress ….
Retailers, entrepreneurs and everybody’s brother is trying to figure out how to get a piece of the action that could be wireless Web e-commerce transactions. Wireless carriers can benefit by either getting revenues from retailers that place ads on their networks, by getting a portion of revenues from any transactions conducted or at least from the airtime consumers use as they place a call to order a t-shirt from Eddie Bauer. But as retailers and technology developers rush to develop m-commerce applications, carriers that hesitate to offer m-commerce services until they perceive a demand for them by the consumer may be the smart ones.
While everyone tries to figure out this new m-commerce baby, the e-commerce big sister is still a toddler and no one really knows whether all the excitement surrounding her means she’s ready to run or is still learning to walk. (It’s kind of like how a baby’s smile either can mean he’s happy to see you or you should get ready to change a diaper.)
ActivMedia Research has produced data that says the average e-commerce transaction by consumers who have been online more than five years is twice that of the newest-to-the-Internet spender. Online spending is on the rise, no matter how you look at it, notes the company.
But online consumer expectations for customer service aren’t being met, according to a recently conducted survey by Primix Solutions and QuickTake.com. “While 89 percent of Internet shoppers participating in the survey considered the availablity of customer service representatives either important or extremely important, only 59 percent indicated they were satisfied or very satisfied with the service they receive from their favorite site.”
However, customer service concerns might not matter anyway because most dot-com retailers are going to be out of business by 2001, according to yet another study, this one from Forrester Research. The combination of weak financials, increasing competitive pressures and investor flight will consolidate this market, Forrester predicts.
What does this mean to today’s wireless carrier?
Two things. First, you can probably find a study to back up your own theories regarding how the e-commerce and m-commerce markets will develop.
And second, the closer your relationship with the retailer, the more his mistakes can become your mistakes.
