BENGALURU: Consumers in India are leading the demand for mobile commerce services, with 97 per cent of consumers asking for more mobile interactions with banks, telcos, retailers, utilities and other businesses. SAP AG recently announced the study findings for India which indicates an impressive traction of mobile commerce in the country with 80 per cent of the population making parallel usage of the mobile phones other than just calls and text messages.
More than half of the consumers in India indulge in maximum mobile purchases for entertainment service like cinema, theatre shows, DVDs, sport games (53 per cent) followed by music downloads (48 per cent) says the study.
The surging popularity of mobile commerce in the country also highlights the increase in the internet penetration with 63 per cent of consumers accessing the internet on their mobile at least once a day. 65 per cent of the users feel mobile is a convenient mode of transaction leading to a greater consumer adoption in this segment.
The study found that India scores high in using mobile for banking transactions when compared to other countries in the world. As per the statistics, excluding voice messages, most of the mobile owners turn to their mobile phones for bill payments (78 per cent), bank transactions (72 per cent) and for setting up a new account (74 per cent).
"The dynamic nature of business as well as the freedom to operate from different parts of the world and at odd times has created a need for mobile commerce becoming mainstreamed," said SAP Platform & Technology Business at SAP Head - Sales -Neeraj Athalye, "Our strategy and solutions - unwired by mobile apps and fueled by in-memory and advanced analytics - underscore our unique ability to enable companies from the boardroom to shop floors, to better anticipate, accelerate and differentiate their business."
Mobile Transactions in India
The research shows how mobile based transactions have gained popularity in India and has become an integral part of the consumer's life.
*More than half of the consumers in India indulge in maximum mobile purchases for entertainment service like cinema, theatre shows, DVDs, sport games (53 per cent) followed by music downloads (48 per cent)
*The other key purchases via mobile are clothes/footware/other attires (47 per cent) and books or e-books (40 per cent)
While embracing the appetite for mobile purchase adoption, it is vital that organisations looking to develop products and services for India are able to balance the desire for ease and convenience with security requirements:
*In the study, 57 per cent of users in the country believe that once they gain confidence in mobile security, they will increase their mobile payment activity
*Providing services that are lower cost (24 per cent) and personalised (33 per cent) will encourage mobile owners to make more bank transfers through their mobile phones, in turn increasing the mobile based consumption in India
*Consumers in India are driven to buy goods using their mobile phone by exclusive offers (33 per cent) and coupons (26 per cent).
The research also reflects that ease of use is a core principle that will accelerate overall user adoption in the telecommunications industry
*Free minutes, texts and Web use (26 per cent), personalized services (28 per cent) and lower cost services (26 per cent) will encourage consumers in India to use their mobile to check usage data for their mobile account.
Research Methodology
3,288 interviews were conducted with adults aged 18+ who own a mobile phone (basic or smartphone) in APAC (China n=1000, India n=1050, Japan n=651, Australia n=587).
Respondents completed an online survey in March/April 2013. Research conducted by Loudhouse, an independent research agency based in London.
