How Technologies make M Commerce Possible and Popular with Global Consumers

What is m-commerce and what are some of the technological innovations that fall under this type of commerce?

Growing numbers of consumers already use it but may not realize it or they may not fully understand what m-commerce is or how it works. Given its sustained increased in usage in recent years, it is important to develop this level of understanding so that all of the advantages of m-commerce can be realized while its corresponding vulnerabilities are minimized. To this end, the purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the relevant industry and peer-reviewed literature to describe m-commerce as well as some of the technological innovations that support this commercial platform. Following this review, the paper presents a summary of the research and important findings concerning current applications of m-commerce and its future potential in an increasingly digital world.

Review and Discussion

Overview of m-commerce

When consumers use their smartphones at a point of purchase in retail establishments, they are engaging in a basic type of mobile commerce, or more commonly m-commerce. For instance, according to the straightforward definition provided by Yasar, “M-commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services through wireless handheld devices such as smartphones and tablets. M-commerce is a form of e-commerce that enables users to access online shopping platforms without the use of a desktop computer” (Yasar, 2020, p. 2). The global usage of smartphones has also experienced steady growth in recent years, and more than 25% of the world’s population had already used smartphones by 2016 (Ashraf et al., 2017), a percentage that increased to more than 79% of consumers worldwide by 2020 (Basit, Khalid and Maroof, 2022). Likewise, there has also been corresponding growth in the global m-commerce marketplace with sustained year-to-year increased having been reported by industries of all sizes and types (Ashraf et al., 2017).

Further, changes in consumer shopping habits have also fueled the growth of m-commerce. In this regard, Basit, Khalid and Maroof (2022) emphasize that, “Shopping using mobile phones, in particular, is getting more popular. People nowadays are busy with their daily routines and do not have time to visit stores, nor do they want to conduct searches on laptops and computers for shopping, which are confined to one location and limit their time” (p. 73). These significant trends in consumer reliance on mobile digital devices have combined to assign an even greater level of importance to the underlying technologies that support m-commerce today. As Basit and his associates conclude, “People have rapidly adopted m-commerce through which various distinctive technological features have been addressed” (Basit, Khalid and Maroof, 2022). Some of the more important technological innovations that fall under the m-commerce umbrella as discussed further below.

Technological innovations that fall under the m-commerce umbrella

Taken together, the foregoing descriptions of m-commerce and its applications make it clear that that are multiple technological innovations that are involved. Many of the technological innovations that are used to support m-commerce include some that are taken for granted by most consumers at present, such as computer-based applications, the electrical grid and the Internet. There are also some more recent technological innovations, however, that are increasing in importance in their support of m-commerce, including text messaging in the form of “short message service” or SMS as well as the similar USSD which establishes real-time connections between m-commerce-using consumers which facilitates the session-based communications which are integral to it use (Mikesell, 2017).

In addition, WAP 2.0 has been widely available on most smartphones since 2004, making it one of the longstanding workhorse apps that support m-commerce today. The popularity of WAP 2.0 can be attributed in part to its similarity with desktop and laptop apps, making it easier for consumers to navigate the m-commerce marketplace. In this regard, Mikesell advises that, “WAP 2.0 provides a mobile experience much closer to a desktop and laptop Web experience than the original WAP standards did, but it is still different enough that a WAP experience and Web experience will not be exactly the same” (2017, p. 5).

Finally, the SIM Toolkit (STK) makes it possible for other mobile apps that are used in m-commerce to communicate by requesting and receiving relevant data as well as issuing requisite commands to the users’ mobile device. Some services currently use STK for m-commerce applications such as mobile banking and other uses that require verifiable identity information and encrypted communications for security (Mikesell, 2017). Similar technologies have also been used to migrate device-based apps to the cloud to facilitate m-commerce transactions (Gherari et al., 2018).

Conclusion

Noted author and futurist Arthur C. Clarke once observed that, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” and it is reasonable to conclude that the m-commerce technologies that are being routinely used around the world today would appear as magic to consumers just a few decades ago. The research was consistent in showing that m-commerce, or mobile commerce, has continued to increase in popularity to the point where a majority of global consumers use it in their day-to-day lives. The research also showed that some of the technological innovations that support m-commerce include SMS, USSD, WAP 2.0 and the SIM Toolkit. Based on the foregoing review, it is also reasonable to conclude that continued improvements in the functionality of these technologies will drive additional usage of m-commerce for the foreseeable future.