Abstract
Introduction
Mobile Commerce as a Business Driven Technology
Strengths of Wi-Fi Connectivity for Oliver Bonus
Weaknesses of Wi-Fi Connectivity
Opportunities for Oliver Bonus
Threats Facing Oliver Bonus
Conclusion
Abstract
Business-driven technologies have become very instrumental in the 21st-century corporate environment. Mobile commerce, in particular, has emerged as a powerful trading platform, where businesses engage and interact with their customer bases. The emergence of mobile commerce as a profound platform for business has been primarily driven by the advent of the Internet as well as the explosion of mobile phone technology. Today’s consumers are technologically savvy with most of them owning a mobile device. These facts have made companies develop capabilities of exploiting the mobile phone platform for business purposes. Oliver Bonus, a UK-based retailer, is an example of organizations that are increasingly embracing the m-commerce platform. Even though the platform provides immeasurable customer experiences that enhance the purchase process, it also comes with its own weaknesses as it is impossible, for example, for companies to control what customers can access on the same. In this regard, even as the m-commerce platform provides organizations with profound opportunities for enhancing their growth and profitability, they are continuously exposed to stiff competition from other players. The reality demonstrates the need for greater capabilities of exploiting the online and m-commerce platforms.
Introduction
Business in the 21st century has assumed certain characteristics that were absent and even incapable of being conceptualized several decades ago. One of these characteristics is mobile commerce or m-commerce, where companies of today are engaging with their customer bases through mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets (Shao Yeh, & Li, 2009). Even though the advent of the Internet profoundly revolutionized business due to the aspect of online commerce, it is the advent of mobile telephony and the proliferation of mobile devices that have produced the greatest impact in the contemporary business environment. Today, the majority of the adult population owns a mobile gadget, which is either a smartphone or a tablet. The youths, who happen to be the majority worldwide are said to be the most technologically savvy population, which is evidenced by the high level of mobile device penetration in the demographic group. As a consequence, mobile devices have created a ubiquitous business environment, where firms are able to provide their products and services in a continuous and interrupted framework as consumers access the same at a convenient time and place. In essence, m-commerce is the greatest contributor to the ubiquitous business environment and is poised to continue with this trend going into the future. This paper discusses mobile commerce as a form of business driven technology in the contemporary society and highlights its effects on business organizations.
Mobile Commerce as a Business Driven Technology
As already mentioned, the advent of mobile telephony and the proliferation of mobile devices are responsible for the emergence of m-commerce, which is a technology that is essentially business-driven (Balasubramanian, Peterson, & Jarvenpaa, 2002). Thus, m-commerce is a trading platform that primarily exists on the mobile telephony platform but is also enabled by the Internet. Smartphones are the primary mobile gadgets from where m-commerce runs on the mobile telephony platform, whereas tablets utilize the Internet. Both of these devices are the main devices upon which the business practice thrives. According to research findings, approximately three percent of all global sales in 2014 were executed by a mobile device user (Lowe, 2015). Apparently, the figure is expected to rise to nine percent by the year 2019, which will represent about $32 billion on the basis of a 231 percent growth in global sales volume (Lowe, 2015). From a contextual point of view, all retail sales are poised to grow by about eight percent over this period and online sales by about 44 percent, thus making the mobile platform the fastest growing retail channel (Lowe, 2015).
Consequently, as the proliferation of mobile devices accelerates driven by an increasing appetite among the youths for sophisticated mobile gadgets, and the fear of trading on the mobile platform lessens, companies will continue to report increased sales, which are expected to bolster the wider global retail market (Buellingen & Woerter, 2004). However, companies will also need to increase the level of their exposure to the online platform as well as build m-commerce portals that will enhance customer engagement (Li & Yeh, 2010). In this regard, the growth of companies in the current business environment will be determined to some extent by how well they integrate their m-commerce and e-commerce platforms into their marketing operations (Toellner, 2014).
Numerous firms have embraced m-commerce in today’s changing business landscape. Some of them have reported impressive growth while others are still learning how to capitalize on the platform and its accompanying technologies for the sake of business growth and expansion as well as customer satisfaction (Toellner, 2014). Oliver Bonus is a UK-based company that has recently embraced the idea of m-commerce. Over the last few years, the management team has been investigating a range of options regarding emerging and future technologies impacting the firm’s growth and success. Eventually, the team settled on providing Wi-Fi to its customers where it decided to roll out Wi-Fi connectivity to all of its major stores in March 2015 (Lowe, 2015).
According to Tim Hollidge, Chief Operating Officer at Oliver Bonus, the decision to roll out Wi-Fi connectivity was reached because the leadership conceived this as the best option as it provided the most solutions for the Oliver Bonus community (Lowe, 2015). In essence, rolling out Wi-Fi connectivity was regarded as the best approach for marrying up a number of back-end processes while concurrently improving front-line customer service (Lowe, 2015).
Strengths of Wi-Fi Connectivity for Oliver Bonus
The provision of free Wi-Fi at all Oliver Bonus retail stores has been reported to have profoundly improved customer experience. It has deepened and widened the options for shoppers and, most importantly, has provided them with access to products that might not be currently available at that particular store but which are available in another Oliver Bonus outlet (Lowe, 2015). The aspect of customer experience eases the shopping worries that most clients have when they cannot access particular products in the stores that they are shopping at. For Oliver Bonus, the free Wi-Fi is a plus as it eliminates this worry and now customers and shoppers can order their products through the online portal as long as the availability of the product is confirmed irrespective of whether it is available in the present store or another one (Lowe, 2015). Consequently, the free Wi-Fi provides all shoppers at Oliver Bonus stores with access to the brand’s social media sites for the sole purpose of design inspiration.
Additionally, by utilizing the free Wi-Fi, shoppers are able to manage their data while out shopping, which is especially a significant customer service for the youthful shoppers, who are the major consumers of Internet data. This aspect of improving customer experience ends up creating a significant goodwill toward Oliver Bonus by a large segment of its customer base (Lowe, 2015). Another plus the Wi-Fi connectivity has brought to Oliver Bonus relates to the improvement of operational management. The provision of this service necessitated the company to provide tablets to its store locations, which are linked to all back-end systems (Lowe, 2015). This linkage has provided the ability of respective managers to check the availability of products across the whole Oliver Bonus store network. This enhances product availability in all the firm’s stores hence ensuring customer satisfaction. Moreover, during the peak shopping hours, these tablets act as additional tills, assist in-store customers interested in the credit product offerings with free interest, and helps with the processing of Click & Collect customer purchases among many other in-store services.
Weaknesses of Wi-Fi Connectivity
However, the decision to provide free Wi-Fi in all of its stores was not without certain disadvantages. Even though this service has greatly enhanced online shopping within Oliver Bonus premises, it fails to guarantee customer purchases. For example, it is almost impossible for the management at Oliver Bonus to control how shoppers use the free Wi-Fi. They could use it to access the company’s product offerings, compare its prices and those of its competitors, or for personal entertainment (Lowe, 2015). Unfortunately, Oliver Bonus has not put in place a framework for measuring key performance indicators (KPIs) that would help establish the effectiveness of the free Wi-Fi provision in regard to customer purchases (Lowe, 2015).
Opportunities for Oliver Bonus
Threats Facing Oliver Bonus
Secondly, the provision of free Wi-Fi has necessitated Oliver Bonus to expend significant financial resources. Therefore, the company has had to develop and expand its broadband infrastructure across its store network, which includes the addition of extra lines, the installation of smart servers, and the provision of mobile devices among many other infrastructural elements (Lowe, 2015). This has greatly strained its financial capabilities, which may render it vulnerable to hard economic times ahead.
Conclusion
Business in the 21st century continues to experience shifts and transformations that were never thought of as possible or capable of being conceptualized several decades ago. The dawn of the Internet has, undoubtedly, played a significant role in this transformation as the online platform became the main staging area for business transformation. Even before online commerce had reached its apex, mobile commerce (m-commerce) took over as the most promising trading platform in the current business environment. Indeed, the advent of mobile telephony and, most importantly, the proliferation of mobile devices are responsible for this shift. Today, m-commerce is one of the most sought after service by most organizations because they have realized the value it has in the current operational context. In essence, today’s shoppers are not restricted to time and space, but rather are exploiting the advantages of the ubiquitous business environments made possible by m-commerce. Thus, it is now possible to shop at a time and place one thinks is convenient for them, thanks to the power of m-commerce.
The decision of UK-based Oliver Bonus to embrace m-commerce by providing free Wi-Fi in all of its retail outlets exemplifies the importance that companies in the current operational context attach to m-commerce. The firm has greatly enhanced the shopping experience for its customers through the service. Most importantly, it has profoundly enhanced its operational capacity as it is now capable of managing its back-end systems that are vital to inventory management. However, one of the chief weaknesses of the free Wi-Fi provision is that Oliver Bonus has no control of how shoppers use the service; some customers are using to make purchase decisions, but others are utilizing it for personal entertainment. Nevertheless, Oliver Bonus has opened a door of profound opportunities, where it can now fully exploit the m-commerce platform. By increasing its online presence and enhancing its online customer service portals, the company can transform customer experiences into product portfolios and purchases that will positively affect the bottom-line. However, as the company exploits the m-commerce platform, it will face stiff competition from other players that have already mastered the m-commerce platform and its counterparts that are beginning to exploit its potential. In short, the company must be prepared to compete for the modern shopper with other organizations that might have greater efficiency and effectiveness in utilizing the m-commerce platform.
References
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Buellingen, F., & Woerter, M. (2004). Development perspectives, firm strategies and applications in mobile commerce. Journal of Business Research, 57(12), 1402-1408.
Li, Y. M., & Yeh, Y. S. (2010). Increasing trust in mobile commerce through design aesthetics. Computers in Human Behavior, 26(4), 673-684.
Lowe, R. (2015). The future of m-commerce. New York, NY: Conlumino
Shao Yeh, Y., & Li, Y. M. (2009). Building trust in m-commerce: contributions from quality and satisfaction. Online Information Review, 33(6), 1066-1086.
Toellner, J. (2014). Mobile services in retail and their influence on customer satisfaction. Hamburg: Diplom. de.
