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It is known without saying that gone are the days of people having to walk down the streets from store to store to find the products they like from the randomly stocked products in the stores. With the invention of the internet and the use of the WWW, the way people shop has drastically changed. Today, the majority of the population is turning towards online transactions for the array of benefits it offers. Electronic Commerce or ecommerce as it is popularly known is the buying as selling of goods and services online using the Internet. Although traditional commerce is still in fashion, every second person prefers opting for the latest trading models i.e, ecommerce and mobile commerce or m-commerce.

While ecommerce refers to the operating business transactions using computers or laptops, on the internet, mobile commerce implies operating business transactions using mobile devices on the internet. The acceptance of online shopping by shifting from traditional shopping methods could have taken hundreds of years. However, the transformation of the mode of ecommerce sales from the web to mobile happened within one or two decades. What are ecommerce and m-commerce? How are they different? Is there anything similar between the two? There could be many such questions that are left unanswered. In this blog, Builderfly is going to answer all your queries regarding ecommerce and m-commerce!

What are the differences in ecommerce and m-commerce?

Although ecommerce and mobile commerce aim at making their customers’ lives easier, they have different meanings. Ecommerce can be referred to as an umbrella word for the whole process of buying and selling goods and services online. On the other hand, m-commerce can be referred to as a sub-division of ecommerce that focuses on the buying and selling of goods and services through a mobile device. Although the end motive of both, ecommerce and m-commerce are the same – to buy and sell goods & services online using the internet, there are many blatant differences between the two. We have tried listing the most outright differences between ecommerce and m-commerce, they are:

Mobility

mobility

As mentioned earlier, ecommerce stands for electronic commerce, wherein purchasing of products and services is facilitated by the internet. Generally, activities in ecommerce are done using a computer or desktops, laptops, etc. Therefore, online shoppers need to find space to do their shopping and further transactions. Using laptops anywhere, especially during locomotion could be quite annoying. On the other hand, m-commerce lets online shoppers do their purchasing from a mobile device. Therefore, online shoppers can purchase from anywhere, until they are having internet access. Online shoppers can complete transactions using their smartphones within just a few clicks. Additionally, with many mobile wallets and UPI applications, online shoppers can now make payments through their smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, etc.

Accessibility

With the outstanding feature of device portability in mobile commerce, the accessibility of m-commerce is far-reaching as compared to ecommerce. Using m-commerce, online sellers can get access to their potential customers from almost everywhere, expanding the boundaries of the customer base for m-commerce sellers.

Tracking of location

The feature of tracking the location of ecommerce is quite limited in view of the non-portability of the device used. The only metric to help track ecommerce customers on the computer is the IP address. The IP address of a computer provides a vague idea of the whereabouts of the online shoppers, which is limited by means of advertising strategies of the location. Contrarily, the m-commerce app has the power to track and identify the location of the users with various positional tracking technologies using GPS technology, Wi-Fi, etc. Thus, m-commerce can potentially provide location-specific information as well as personalized recommendations to online shoppers such as target marketing, personalized discounts, and so on using the location of the customers. The precision of the location of the online shoppers can be used to send the customers, promotions within their vicinity.

Push Notifications

push notification

It is one of the most obvious advantages of mobile commerce over ecommerce. In m-commerce, retailers can send push notifications on the mobile devices of their customers. As compared to exploding promotional letters on the email list, sending push notifications is experienced to be less invasive. From the shoes of an online retailer, push notifications are presumed to be more effective than the other. Promotional emails come with the risks of getting delivered to the Spam box or even simply ignored by the customers. Push notifications, on the other hand, make sure to deliver instantly onto the customers’ mobile. With the technical developments today, push notifications can include beautifully-portrayed product images that navigate the customers to the mobile commerce app with a single click. The opt-in rate of the mobile commerce app is above 67%, which gives potentially high chances of getting users’ attention with the help of push notifications.

Security

Security is the most essential factor in online shopping, be it ecommerce, be it m-commerce.  Usually, credit cards are the most common mode of making payments in ecommerce. However, even today, online shoppers are skeptical of sending their credit card numbers on the internet. The security attained by alone passwords and usernames is not enough to curb the highly professional online hackers. The ability of mobile commerce apps to secure the data is quite extensive. Along with the regular security features, in mobile commerce app additionally offers two-factor authentication as well as multiple level authentications such as face recognition, retina scans, fingerprints, etc. Mobile commerce apps provide a second layer of security over and above the regular username and password security offered in ecommerce. Moreover, the biometrics security offered in m-commerce is unmatched to all other security options, reducing the risks of fraudulent transactions in the process of purchasing and selling online.

Convenient Transactions

When it comes to ecommerce, transactions, as mentioned earlier, are mainly done using Credit Cards. Other methods of transactions in ecommerce are done using Debit Cards, and other such modes of card payments. People do not trust saving card details on ecommerce websites, and therefore, they need to stick to a place in order to complete payment while placing an order in ecommerce. On the contrary, in m-commerce, there are many other payment methods that can be done on the go as long as smartphones have an internet connection. The smartphones let the customers make transactions within a few clicks on the screen. Some of the prominent mobile transaction methods include UPI payments, instant bank transfers, and so on. These methods are more secure with all the above-mentioned security measures to protect the customer data.

Omnichannel

The online retailing industry has experienced a major shift from multichannel selling to omnichannel selling, which refers to providing a seamless shopping experience to the customers throughout all the selling platforms. While ecommerce is confined to be used in an immobile device such as a computer or a laptop (which is mobile, but difficult to carry at all places). Ecommerce involves limited interactions with the customers due to this reason, and m-commerce, on the other hand, is with the customers, all the time!

Right from the time of getting up to the time of dozing off, a mobile phone is always there with a potential customer. This increases the chances of interacting with the customers in a more personalized way than it is done in ecommerce. M-commerce helps in providing a personalized as well as customized experience to make their customers feel valued and get them back to the store every time they wish to purchase online. Also, online retailers are easily able to interact with the customers through m-commerce apps and resolve their queries in lesser time, which is a great way to boost the store’s conversion rates.

Conclusion

Now that you have a detailed idea of the topic, the next question is, what are you going to do with this information? Go and create an m-commerce website/store immediately? Well, no! Having an m-commerce website alone is not bringing any revenue to your business. In order to run a successful online selling business, you need to have your online presence equally, in ecommerce, as well as the m-commerce market. Today, online selling businesses are having mobile apps apart from their websites – a website can help you build trustworthiness and discoverability, and m-commerce can help you connect with your customers and retain the existing ones.

If you have not created your online store yet, our suggestion for you is to check out Builderfly.com. You’ll get everything to create an online presence with a website as well as a mobile app to get the best of both the worlds. Moreover, you do not have to pay an additional lump sum amount to create an m-commerce presence. Builderfly lets you create ecommerce mobile app for free along with your subscription to create an online store. So, what keeps you waiting? Check it out and its extensive features with the 14-days free trial period, after which you can choose a pricing plan that suits you the best and connect your domain to make your store live to the world.

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