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According to the State of Retailing Online 2016 study from Forrester Research, Shop.org and Bizrate Insights, “The growing use of smartphones by consumers, a shift in investments by technology companies and continued optimization strategies from retailers have landed smartphones on top as a driver of mobile sales and traffic for retail companies”. In other words, it would be safe to say that mobile phones are here to stay and continue driving sales and customer service. Now let us take a peek at what is projected to play the most significant role in mobile commerce in 2016.

Focusing on Customer Loyalty

It’s widely known that promoting customer loyalty is of paramount importance due to high costs involved in getting new ones. However, there is no agreement on the exact numbers.  For example, Terry Gillen in her article writes, “Attracting a new customer can cost as much as 15 times more than retaining an existing customer”. According to the eMarketer, “acquiring a customer costs 5 to 10 times more than retaining one”. As  for Gartner, it estimates that “65% of company’s business comes from existing customers, and it costs five times as much to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one satisfied”. All things considered, while the numbers might differ, everyone agrees on the necessity to ensure excellent customer service to keep already acquired ones satisfied.

What tools can be employed to do so? Nowadays, mobile commerce apps is what immediately comes to mind. Indeed, customers want to see their importance and know that their opinion truly matters. Apps, in their turn, allow constantly engaging with customers and getting their feedback. Moreover, apps are great for keeping existing customers by special promotions and offers.

Taking Advantage of Mobile Payment Systems

The “Starbucks Card Mobile” payment system has given a good impetus to multiple transactions with the so-called “mobile wallet”. In fact, Starbucks already receives 16% of its total transactions from payments via its mobile app. “The mobile-payments industry will start to show significant growth after consumers’ smartphones and merchant’s payment terminals become more standardized and available,” said Thad Peterson, senior analyst at Aite Group, a consulting firm. Hence, if your app is connected to a payment system, it dramatically improves its chance for success.