With e-commerce now fully established - over £40 million spent online last year, it seems 2008 could be the year that m-commerce finally takes off in the UK. With the introduction of new devices such as the iPhone, web usability on the mobile is going to be vastly improved, creating countless opportunities for the retail sector.

More people own a mobile phone than a PC and our mobiles are much more personal to us than our computers. 4,000 texts are sent in the UK every second, highlighting the close relationship consumers have with their mobile device. This makes it an ideal platform for retailers to capture customers.

Most research carried out in m-commerce has highlighted that currently people in the UK use their mobile to research product prices and locations of stores – the challenge for retailers is to convert this research into conversions.

Retailers must ensure they secure consumers trust in their mobile websites reflecting the issues that originally plagued e-commerce in the early days. Guarantees of credit card safety and secure payment methods will ensure consumer confidence in mobile websites and as a result, sales.

The key to success in the m-commerce market is offering consumers a better quality of service than other retailers. Enabling orders made via mobile to be picked up in stores as well as permitting users to stop and restart sessions at their convenience would greatly encourage people to purchase goods using their mobile device. New developments in mobile platforms such as the iPhone are a promising sign that mobile browsing will soon be much easier for consumers. Retailers must ensure their mobile websites are as clean and user-friendly as possible. Unlike web browsing, vertical navigation is a must with focus on text rather than images.

The potential of mobile technology for the retail sector is endless. Many retailers are already using SMS to alert customers of special events and offers and Bluetooth technology could lead to customers receiving sales messages the minute they walk into stores.

To find out more about m-commerce strategies and the increased sales you can expect contact our mobile team

Until recently, there was no easy way to validate that a purchaser on an e-commerce website is indeed the legitimate cardholder. 3D Secure technology was launched to reduce the likelihood of online fraud, by authenticating the cardholder with the card issuer at the time the transaction takes place, thus significantly reducing cardholder disputes and merchant chargeback’s.

3D Secure requires the cardholder to register their card (on the card issuers website) answering a number of security questions. The cardholder then sets up a password and secret phrase which will be used by the card issuer for every online transaction. Once signed up the cardholder uses this personalised password for every online purchase on sites with 3D Secure integration.

This technology is designed to increase consumer confidence in using credit cards online – an issue that is key to commercial success on the internet. However, retailers need to be careful about its integration into a website as not all consumers are yet aware of the technology and therefore if handled incorrectly could actually increase the risk of shopping cart abandonment.

As there has been very little media coverage of the new 3D Secure technology, the average consumer is unaware of its uses, therefore there is work to be done for merchants in creating awareness and highlighting the benefits in order to prevent consumer confusion and shopping cart abandonment.

It may be advisable to add information within the buying process to explain and reassure consumers or perhaps have a link to a page that explains exactly what 3D Secure is and the benefits it presents for people buying products online.

Despite these teething issues, the introduction of this technology is an exciting one and will protect ecommerce merchants from online fraud plus increase consumer confidence in purchasing from sites with 3D secure integration.

3D Secure is predicted to become the industry standard by the end of 2008, providing online consumers with added confidence in sites utilising this technology. We have successfully integrated 3D Secure to e-commerce clients Toner Expert and Red Express, plus we are currently completing work on Jessops.com.