By 2015, companies will generate 50% of Web sales via their social presence and mobile applications.

Gartner latest predictions include a projection for a large increase in sales via mobile and social networks.

www.gartner.com

Market Implications:

• E-commerce providers of all types are offering mobile e-commerce capabilities, such as SMS for couponing, improvements for mobile browser usage of their sites and mobile shopping applications. These vendors will vie for organizations’ mobile initiatives, and their success will be driven by how well they help mobile customers make purchases easily, and by tapping into their social network connections.

• Enterprises will be challenged with determining customer expectations for mobile and social capabilities. The organization will need to enable a useful customer experience that keeps the customer from “unfriending” the organization socially, “opting out” of SMS offers or deleting its mobile application.

Related Research:

• “User Survey Analysis: Evolution of Consumer Internet Preferences”

• “User Survey Analysis: Social Media Adoption Trends”

Q1. What would current on-line retailers need to do to keep up with this trend?

Q2. Why would consumers have a retailer or business as a social network 'friend'?