1.
Introduction
Technology is changing at a rapid pace and with it, the consumer experience of buying
goods and services. New markets, products and services are emerging so quickly it is
difficult for consumers and regulators to keep pace.
Consumers often have to figure out new technologies for themselves. Regulators may
step in to address issues but this is often after significant consumer adoption and the
market may have already moved on.
Mobile commerce, in all its forms, is growing exponentially. consumers of all ages use
their mobile device for shopping on-the-go, making more-frequent mobile payments, and
connecting to other sales channels. This explosion of mobile usage offers challenges and
opportunities to retailers and mobile service providers as they race to provide reliable,
always-on access to a new retail experience.
In an effort to evaluate singapore consumers mobile shopping habits and also to discover
what attributes consumers value most in their mobile service provider.
This report will cover the following topics:
Use of mobile devices for shopping and commerce-related activities
Perceptions of mobile providers customer service
Why, and how often, customers switch mobile providers
How consumers like to interact with their mobile provider, and what online services
they expect
For retailers, this research report shows steadily and rapidly increasing consumer
adoption of mobile commerce as a critical shopping channel. It also provides insight into
the types of browsing, research, and purchasing activities consumers are doing with their
devices, even while in a retailers physical store.
For mobile service providers, this report identifies an opportunity to improve customer
retention by improving the customer experience they create for subscribers across all
channels, and especially delivering better-quality customer service online. As consumers
rely on their devices for more and more commerce-related activities, in addition to social
and communicative activities, perceived gaps in customer experience will become that
much more apparent to users, posing a huge challengeand opportunityfor these
service providers.
1.1 rationale of study
In later times mobiles were currently used primarily for passing and sharing information
using SMS and voice. However, the inclination to use value added services was evident from
the increase in share of revenues generated from value added services as a proportion of total
revenues of mobile industry increased. This rise had resulted from introduction of voting
based participative TV Programs, voting on some socio-economic-political issues in
newspapers; SMS based quiz/contests on mobile, MMS etc. Student clientele of mobile
companies were major consumers of wallpaper, ring tone, mobile games, music and video
clip download services available on eportals as well as mobile portals. Other services like
micro payment facility are also being offered though only by one or two operators. GPRS
based services was being offered by mobile operators on a limited scale. However, wide
ranges of new services were on the anvil as more and more operators upgrade to 3G
networks.
2. Objectives
To identify the opportunities created by m-commerce in different
industries.
Study the Overview of M- commerce.
Discuss the current advantages and disadvantages of M-commerce.
Identify the M-Commerce Applications
Discuss M-COMMERCE VERSUS E-COMMERCE
Study of Security Issues in Online marketing
3. Literature review
This report is based upon research from consumer groups, online journals,
research papers, and secondary resources.
The online research studies provided the useful data on the consumer
experience of purchasing goods and services via mobile devices. Consumer
groups from singapore participated in the study. The study made a number
of findings including that:
The availability of information during a m-commerce transaction can be limited
by technological constraints such as a phones small screen size.
The m-commerce market is still developing and is in the early stages when it
comes to the range of products and services available to consumers.
The most common products purchased include e-tickets, digital content and
physical goods.
Purchasers faced difficulties seeking redress or accessing dispute resolution
mechanisms.
M-commerce transactions are susceptible to fraud and unauthorised payments.
Policy guidance and conference papers issued by the OECD provide an
international context for this discussion.
The Guidelines were adopted to provide guidance to government, industry
and regulators when developing protection mechanisms for consumers
engaging in online shopping.
Local and international media also provided data about m-commerce uptake
and insights into developments in the industry.
4. Achievements
M-Commerce provides many value-added services to a customer
on the move and therefore possesses significant business
opportunities for the providers of such services.
Conceptualizing and developing mobile services which present
challenges and opportunities for the vendors from diverse
industries.
A vast field of business opportunities is about to be created for
technology providers which could offer mobile solutions to the
service providers.
Mobile commerce service providers can emphasize on
differentiation to make application more useful and easier to use
than their competitors.
M- Commerce can transform peoples lifestyle with unique,
personalized and location based services.
5. research methodology
Sampling Methodology
Sample unit: residents of Singapore of age between 20 or above have
been taken as sample unit
Sampling area: Singapore
Sampling technique: random sampling technique
Research Design
1. Visited the local residents of singapore and gathered
information required as per questionnaire.
2. The research design is probability research design and is
descriptive research.
Data Collection
1. Primary data has been used by me in the form of Questionnaire
& Observation, which are the two basic methods of collecting
primary data, which suffices all research objectives.
2. Secondary data sources like online journals, books & various
online resources have been used.
