M-Commerce in 30 Minutes...I like that!

Well I am certainly no psychic, but it is fun to write about something that I believe in so much and then see that there is a company actually executing what I think is the next great trend in e-commerce shopping, namely m-commerce (“mobile commerce”).

I know little of the company and will be calling them next week to find out more, but they are called MPoria and they have launched GoMobile. 

This service basically allows any merchant to send their product catalog to them and then MPoria will format it correctly, so that it fits on the small hand-held device screens.  Moreover, their service is inexpensive at $39.99 a month with a one time set up fee of $69.99.  I am unsure if they charge a percent of revenues so check back here later next week and I will find out for you. 

The best part about this service is that MPoria already has relationships with Verizon, Sprint and ATT-Cingular so you can be assured that you get distribution.  The only question I have remaining, outside of any hidden ongoing fees, is how easy is it to make a purchase once you are on a site. It seems that they have this resolved by having a “unique” button on an merchant’s site to click for m-commerce functionality.  Once you click this button the consumer enters their billing information once and then when they come back in the future they don’t have to hassle with re-entering this data.  Oh, and of course, all of the data is highly secure.  We hope.

Check back Monday for comments on a question somebody sent me yesterday:

Why am I so bullish on m-commerce?

Have a nice weekend and please keep emailing me your questions and I will answer them the best I can.

HELPFUL TIPS FOR THE DAY:

1. M-Commerce is the next logical step to reaching customers easily and compliments your exisiting e-commerce strategies.

2. Behavior patterns of those under 30 show that they live and breath on their wireless devices.

3. You have the data to market already why not ensure it is available to all marketing channels?

4. It is easy to experiment with M-Commerce to see if it can work for you.

Comments

[jason]

mcommerce is the next wave. I actually sold mCommerce packages for a company called CardinalCommerce. They are a competitor of mporia.

mporia is also a great firm. I've spoken with Dan Wright the CEO in the past and he is a very nice and affable man.

if you like reading about mobile feel free to visit http://www.mobilecommercetimes.com/

[Mike Reed]

Just wanted to answer your questions for you. Not sure if you've had them answered or not.

m-commerce shopping is quite easy although not all mobile sites have the ability to give the consumer the actual ability to purchase directly from their cell phones. Navigation is all done through point/scroll and click. Data entry is much like text messaging and like you mentioned in your post, mPoria stores all shipping information for future reference so that the consumer does not need to re-enter shipping information. Billing information is not stored though. That is passed directly to the merchant.

As far as fees, with mPoria there are no back end fees. No cost-per-click fees. No per transaction fees. Pricing has increased minimally since your posting.

One time setup fee of $99.99
Three month commitment.
Limited tech work needed on retail merchants end.
$69.99 for up to 100 SKU's
$99.99 for up to 10,000 SKU's
$149.99 for up to 100,000 SKU's
100,000+ = customized pricing.

All programs come with real time site reporting and tracking.

As of 11/12/07 mPoria has stratgically launched with Verizon and Sprint to have their mobile shopping mall on the providers carrier deck. This means that all mPoria merchants are listed under the shopping portals on the mobile web platform for Verizon and Sprint.

Read http://mporia.blogspot.com for more information.