Says Gary Novitzkas, CEO of kalahari.net, "The number of people accessing the mobile Internet is skyrocketing and we expect it to overtake the PC as the most sought after way to access the Internet in less than five years. As an online retailer, this has resulted in a new type of browser experience, another channel to market and therefore a slightly different sales platform. Developed specifically for the mobile phone, our site continues to establish itself not only as an industry leader in online retail, but also mobile retail."
Quick results
New generation emerges
Novitzkas moves on to say that in developing countries such as South Africa where mobile phone penetration outnumbers fixed Internet users 5:2, the mobile screen is the only screen for many. As smart phones start entering the mainstream, a new generation of Internet user is emerging. Coined the mobile-only Internet generation, they do not, or very rarely also use a desktop, laptop or tablet to access the Web. According to local research house On Device Research, 57% of South Africans accessing the mobile Internet, are mobile-only Internet users.
"The FNB Mobility Report released in February this year conservatively estimates the mobile Internet universe to be at six million mobile Internet browsers strong at the very least. This is a significant figure. It impacts the way we communicate and transact as an Internet only business, especially when considering that what they see on their mobile phones is all they will see, and that the mobile Internet is not merely an extension of their desktops. It is for this reason that we have not simply created a mobile version of our site but a standalone extension of the brand."
Although 37% of the survey correspondents felt that the mobile Internet is the future of how we will communicate, a resounding 63% believe that it is just another way to access it. This could contribute to 89% of respondents feeling that accessing the Internet via their mobiles is as safe as accessing it from their computers.
"Trust and safety are the catalysts to sales conversion. It stands to reason that if customers feel safe, they are more willing to transact as a further barrier to sale is removed," says Novitzas.
With 51% accessing the Internet via their mobiles every day, 18% every week and 12% every month, the mobile Internet is bulldozing its way into the mainstream.
Connected South Africans only marginally prefer MTN (43%) to Vodacom (42%) as their primary service providers while Cell C's marketing promise of super fast Internet connectivity has resulted in it being the primary service provider to 19% of the survey respondents. Virgin Mobile comes in at 2% and newcomer 8-Ta comes at 0.4%.
When asked about their brand of the primary mobile phone, 38% of South Africans responded with Nokia, 31% with Blackberry, 12% with Samsung, 8% with iPhone and 5% with Sony Eriksson.
"Although Android is touted to garner the most market share in 2011 by both Gartner and the IDC, a quick look at preferred devices of the survey correspondents show that Symbian remains the prevalent operating system along with BlackBerry and that Android has some catching-up to do. The mobile site is designed as a work horse and performs comfortably on most handheld devices. We have rigorously tested our mobile shopping offering across all platforms to ensure its stability," adds Novitzkas.
When asked what products they were most likely to purchase on a mobile shopping site, no clear winners emerged. Applications, flight tickets, airtime, books, CDs and DVDs, music downloads and games were all supported with between 10% to 13% votes. Electronic devices such as mobile phones and groceries each garnered 5%.
"This highlights the importance of search functionality on mobi sites. We had to be deliberate in deciding what features to include in our mobile shopping offering, simply because it is not possible to fit everything onto the phone screen. Search defines how the end-user interacts with the site specifically because they need to be one screen away from where they want to be at any given point," says Novitzkas.
He adds that local context is central to mobi site design, "It is all about Internet on the go, bite size chunks of easily digestible information that is relevant to here and now. We have carefully considered where our end-users are most likely to access our mobi site, how and why. This has guided us in selecting relevant categories to provide quick access and inspired us from a sales perspective in terms of the promotions we run and products we push."
Although mobile commerce is in its infancy the globe over with retailers reporting to Forrester Research that mobile browsers generate little less than 3% of the overall site traffic and 2% of revenue, long-term growth in mobile commerce is expected to come from developing nations where mobile is virtually the only way to access the Internet.
"Despite the size of the online retail environment in South Africa, we have proven that we are recession proof and continue to report growth. With our track record in the tough online retailing sector coupled with the fertile mobile commerce environment, the company aims to pioneer a sustainable and vibrant mobile commerce culture locally with the launch of our new mobile site. The survey shows that South Africans are ready to embrace mobile shopping," concludes Novitzkas.
