Operators need to deliver reliable user experience to ensure m-commerce flourishes
European mobile users are showing a significant appetite for buying goods and services on their phones, according to new research.
Across France, Germany and the UK more than 30% of mobile users are making purchases on their phones, with Germans the most likely to use mobile commerce, according to On Device Research on behalf of Actix.
Surprisingly, the three markets show consistent numbers of users. In each one between 32% and 35% of mobile users are transacting on the phone.
Neil Coleman, director of global marketing at Actix, pointed out that this challenges operators to deliver a more consistent subscriber experience. 'Subscribers need to rely on their transaction taking place in mobile commerce or mobile banking, without drops in data coverage or slow response times causing transactions to time out.
'The issue for mobile operators is that factors such as coverage holes, location congestion, and underperforming infrastructure can impact a subscriber's user experience', he commented.
Coleman stated: 'Today apps make it easy to transact via the mobile; anything from buying shares to banking to shopping. Consumers are showing a real appetite for this as demonstrated in these figures, but network coverage and capacity can vary greatly, even from one street to another or inside and outside a building. If operators cannot deliver their part of the experience, users will churn.'
Monitoring the mobile network, particularly the Radio Access Network (RAN), which is responsible for 85% of all user experience issues, helps operators identify where they need to improve subscriber experience, particularly for early adopters and high value customers that are transacting on the mobile, stated Actix.
