At a recent Mobile Marketing Association conference, several mobile analysts predicted that 2010 will be the year for Mobile commerce, or m-commerce growth.  A survey by Compete found that in 2009, as many as 37% of Smartphone owners made purchases of some form through their mobile devices, which generated millions of dollars in revenue for retailers with a mobile presence.

One presenter commented that in recent months, m-commerce has experienced “great price performance when compared to traditional mediums.” This point is critical since a key concern for retailers is the possibility that investments in m-commerce development may not generate revenue or deliver ROI.  But according to some mobile marketing strategists, the rewards of building a mobile presence clearly outweigh the associated risk when it comes to retail. They contend that the challenge lies with reaching-out to consumers in a way that is comfortable on a mobile device, such as broadening brands’ mobile presence and marketing efforts by offering consumers branded utilities, like those we mentioned in a prior blog.  As one presenter at the conference observed “mobile gives brands and retailers another touchpoint to reach out to their consumers.”

And, certainly, some merchants have had great success with generating revenue through m-commerce. One of the best, and most impressive cases of m-commerce success is eBay.  In 2009, eBay generated $645 million in revenue directly from their m-commerce site, and an additional $400 million from their native iPhone app—and those figures pale in comparison to the $1.5 billion they are expected to gross this year.  Cases such as this are indicative of the coming shift of retail to the mobile space that is expected later this year and next year.

If this transition takes place as rapidly as some analysts are predicting, retailers that fail to reach out to mobile users and develop an m-commerce presence stand to be left behind as the Smartphone user base grows and more and more consumers adopt m-commerce practices.

(Part II will feature further case studies, and a review of the most effective approaches to m-commerce).