After my Twitter chat on mobile-commerce (m-commerce), several articles were sent to my attention that further illustrated that jewelers should start to take notice of this growing retail trend. I do agree with recent commentary that jewelers should focus on developing a strong website and e-commerce plan before jumping into the mobile arena, but these articles (as well as JCK‘s recent coverage) are a good starting point for getting a feel for the issue.

1. This wonderfully visual and eye-opening chart from a blog post on milo.com might be the perfect crash course in understanding where m-commerce is headed. The one stat that jumped out at me was that by 2015 shoppers around the world are expected to spend $119 billion on goods and services purchases with a moble phone.

2. A blog post from entrepreneur.com cites a comScore survey that found 64.2 million U.S. smartphone users accessed social networking sites or blogs on their mobile devices at least once, with more than half reading posts from brands, organizations, and event organizers. Both men and women are looking to make their shopping experience more social and use their phones to indentify, research, and interact with brands they like.

3. Big retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target are working toward eliminating plastic cards by developing mobile-payment systems.

4. That also includes Home Depot, a company that partnered with PayPal in order to let customers pay with a PayPal card, mobile phone, or PIN number. As cool as this sounds, it begs the question why people would prefer this method to simply paying with a check or debit/credit card.

5. For jewelers and manufacturers who have already started delving into m-commerce, here are some tips for launching a mobile marketing campaign.

I’m eager to hear if jewelers and manufacturers find this information valuable for their businesses; or what they think about the future of m-commerce and how the jewelry industry can best take advantage of it. Leave your thoughts in the comment section or email dford@jckonline.com.

For more coverage on m-commerce, check out:

• Is M-Commerce a Necessity for Retailers in 2012?
• 5 Insights From Twitter on Jewelry F-Commerce and M-Commerce
• Technology & Tools: Mobile Force

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