CTO Forum Roundtable: Building Next Generation Mobile Platform

Building Next Generation Mobile Platform:

We are well positioned to experience new era of integrated-retailing with internet, mobile and e-commerce technologies gaining maturity and offering consistency, agility, and performance.  According to National Retail Federation ‘Mobile Retailing Blueprint’ study, in 2015, shoppers around the world are expected to use their mobile phones to purchase goods and services worth close to $120 billion. That amount represents about 8 percent of the total e-commerce market. In addition, payment for goods or services and money transfers initiated from a mobile phone will reach almost $630 billion by 2014, up from $170 billion in 2010. The advances in mobile technology are presenting unparallel opportunities for the retail industry.

Mobile is not only considered the fourth retail channel beside web, store, and catalog, it tends to be an enabler for the other three channels as well. Consumers are already using phones and other mobile devices to not only pay for purchases, but also to interact with retailers in a variety of other ways. Mobile retail represents both a new way to shop and a new payment paradigm.  The emergence of the mobile channel will affect the entire retail organization—distribution, operations, merchandising, marketing, human resources, and customer service.