In 2013, Digital River processed more than $30 billion online transactions, giving the company insights into payment and consumer behavior trends and the ability to act quickly on them. The company is hosting an online webinar “The Mobile Age, the Impact in Emerging Markets” to share some of its knowledge of mobile payment eCommerce trends, particularly in the BRIC markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China.
In a recent podcast interview with PYMNTS.com’s Jeff Green, John Phillips, head of marketing for Digital River World Payments, provided a glimpse of some of the important information to be gleaned by webinar participants. To join the on-demand webinar, click here.
In the past few years, Phillips said, Digital River has seen dramatic shifts in consumer product research and consumption patterns away from the desktop computers and laptops and toward smartphones and tablets. In fact, that conversion has increased by as much as 50 percent, placing mobile at the center of the digital landscape, he said.
Upwards of 15 percent of total commerce transactions are driven by mobile in the U.S. and China, with 10 percent in the UK and just 5 percent in Brazil. As such, a company expanding its global eCommerce presence faces local complexities, including government regulations, wireless infrastructure, capacity issues, mobile phone carriers’ voice and data model and distribution subsidies, not to mention the merchant’s own investment in mobile commerce experiences, Phillips said.
(jump to: 2:00) “What we do know is that when consumers have the choice, they choose the convenience of mobile, enabling behaviors like Web-rooming and showrooming,” he said in the podcast interview. “And these sort of behaviors have extended the purchase-consideration process, and they’re blurring the line between digital and physical commerce experiences.”
While a big shift to mobile has been expected for some time, the always-connected consumer has created new ways for brands to engage directly, thus increasing loyalty and in the process creating new business and billing models, Phillips said. Over the past few years, these insights have allowed Digital River to help clients reach new markets, and increase conversion by delivering multilingual mobile-shopping experiences supported by locally preferred payment types, he said.
(jump to: 2:58) “And this is really the key, being mobile-friendly, and locally relevant, to understand and influence consumer intent,” Phillips said. Each of the BRIC markets is actually very different, and they require a specific approach to translate the unique challenges into mobile commerce opportunities, he added.
Participants in the webinar will leave with three main things after having attended, Phillips said: a baseline data-set around market drivers; a better idea of the market complexity surrounding regulation, structure, adoption, credit, cultural challenges and other dependencies that impact consumer behavior; and a greater knowledge of game-changers, technology development, and consumer trends to accelerate speed-to-market in each BRIC country.
“I’m optimistic that people will be really satisfied,” he said.
*If you have trouble with the audio player above, click here.
John Phillips, Award-Winning Digital Marketer And Industry Speaker
John Phillips is an award-winning digital marketer and industry speaker as featured in various journals. With successes that span the international consumer-marketing spectrum, John has multiplied reach, engagement and monetization through Web, mobile, social, search and database initiatives for an array of global brands and businesses that include Warner Bros., AOL, Olympics, ATP World Tour and Digital River.
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