MOBILE STRATEGY FOR INDIAN ECOMMERCE COMPANIES

In my previous post I emphasized that Indian ecommerce companies need to cross the chasm and start attracting early majority users to build a sustainable growth path. For attracting this user base Indian ecommerce companies need to devise a strategy that is amalgamation of 3 different strategies - mobile, social, and local. In this post we will focus on formulating an effective mobile strategy for Indian ecommerce companies.

A cohesive and focused mobile strategy is important for ecommerce companies across the world but very critical for Indian ecommerce companies since majority of Indians access the internet (and thus ecommerce sites) through a mobile device. The mobile usage scenario in India is underscored by heterogeneous trends and patterns which are very different from other developed economies. It is also worthwhile to note that most of the ecommerce companies in India, while building a mobile experience, would have to deal with concept selling of "online purchase". Hence a single straight-line strategy may not be efficacious but may require superimposition of multiple diverse strategies. Some of the foundation pillars on which a great mobile commerce experience can be built are:

Prioritize Mobile Web over App 

About 49% of phones in India are internet enabled phone of which about 33% doesn't have an internet connection, 13% have internet connection but on a feature phone and 3% have internet connection on a smart phone. Also while the smart phone internet connections are on 3G and wifi, the feature phone internet connections are mostly on 2G/GPRS connection. So most of the new customers of the ecommerce site are likely to access the site on a feature phone running on a GPRS connection. Ergo it makes sense to start with the mobile web experience rather than a mobile app. 

An even better strategy is to have a layered waterfall approach, with SMS based experience at top, targeted to the broad mass and first time users, and aiming to drive traffic to mobile web (for featured enable phone). The SMS based experience can focus on supporting search, basic product information, checkout and ultimately leading people to the mobile website. The mobile web experience can focus on creating simplified first time and repeat usage and should aim at driving up the app download (if the phone supports it). The app experience is for an highly engaged user and should be consistent with the mobile web experience and aim at driving up revenue for users.

Mobile Site Optimization

This is a very broad area but here are 3 aspects that ecommerce sites can focus on :

• Extending Web feature - All critical web features viz. registration, home page, search, product view page, cart, check out, ownership (my account) page should be available to an user on mobile web. Some of these flows need to be reevaluated E2E to optimize steps for mobile. All these pages also need to have mobile responsive design to cater to different mobile screen resolutions. Whenever the user hits the site URL from a mobile device they should be automatically redirected to the mobile web site. In case of the apps the the interaction designs of the platform (iOS, Android) also needs to be taken into account while building the experience.  
• Leveraging mobile phone features - There are many mobile specific features like 'click to call', 'click to message', 'click to map', 'location based service', and 'QR code linking to their URL' that can be exploited by ecommerce sites to increase traffic, engagement, and conversion
• Building new capabilities - In case of building a mobile app some new capabilities can be built to increase engagement and conversion. Some examples of these are: One touch call; Facilitating viral of product and services via email, Facebook, SMS and twitter; Inclusion of key business events inside the app and keeping customers informed on the go; Allowing customers multiple ways to contact site through phone, website, email, and direction to the location; Creating a fan wall for customers to leave feedback; Sending messages (push notifications) to customer using a content management system; Creating mobile coupons for customers by "Checking in" at the site; Creating QR enabled coupon for the customers to redeem at the site by scanning a specified QR code; Connecting customers to sites Facebook and Twitter page.

Traffic Acquisition 

Multiple research across the world show that people treat their mobile devices as an extension of self. This means any content rendered on mobile can have a very high conversion rate, if relevant, and be perceived intrusive and annoying, if irrelevant. "The Mobile Internet India Consumer India 2013" report produced by Mobile Marketing Association and Vserv.mobi say that Mobile internet users enjoy getting content and deals through mobile ads. According to this report user love mobile ads that help them - download mobile content (59%); Find a good deal on something (41%); Learn about a brand(35%); Locate something nearby (26%). Ecommerce sites leveraging this consumption behavior will drive higher engagement and recall of their brand. Ecommerce sites can also consider location based advertising for mobile users although this is still in a very nascent stage. There are 3 mobile ad network that ecommerce sites can consider for mobile advertising - Google, In mobi and Vserv. While Google and In mobi focuses on smart phone population and developed ecommerce markets, Vserv focuses on feature phones and emerging markets. A word of caution for Ecommerce sites planning to leverage mobile advertisements is to effectively plan and manage the post click experience of their advertisements. 

Mobile Payments

A key ingredient of a successful mobile strategy is solving the payment puzzle and integrating an effective mobile payment solution into the checkout flow. Since credit card/debit card penetration is very low in India the mobile payment solution should include a cash based solution in addition to credit card/debit card. There are many start up companies, banks and operators who are collaborating to build mobile payment solution that doesn't require user to enter credit card/debit card details at checkout and will also work on a low speed mobile connection. All this has led to increase in excitement about mobile payments and today roughly about 7 million transactions happen on mobile today with a value of USD 190mn roughly amounting to 3% of total electronic transactions. Indian ecommerce sites can partner with these players to increase adoption of online purchases and in return help deepen the penetration of these mobile payments solution. There are two categories of players active in the mobile payment space: 

• Mobile Banking (Interbank Mobile Payment Service) - There are lot of banks in India today who support a mobile payment transactions. These transactions are powered by the Interbank Mobile Payment Service created by National Payment Corporation of India. Currently this platform hosts about 59 banks and have so far issued 53.5 mn Mobile Money Identifier (MMID). In order to leverage this service the customer needs to have a bank account with a bank that supports this platform and have her bank account linked to the mobile number through registration for mobile banking service. 
• Mobile Wallet - While the Mobile Banking solutions caters only to the population with bank accounts, the Mobile wallet solutions addresses the need of the population with and without banking account. Users can load money into their wallet from the credit/debit card or by cash through select outlets. These solutions are offered by both operators and non operators. Some examples of operator based solution are: M-pesa, Airtel Money, Aircel. Some examples of non operators based solutions are: ngpay,OxiCash,ZipCash,ZakPay