M-Commerce – Business transactions carried out through mobile devices such as phones

M-commerce is similar to E-commerce, only it focusses on mobile devices specifically.

The easiest way to remember the meaning of M-commerce is to split it up as follows:

M = Mobile device.

Commerce = The activity of buying and selling.

So, M-commerce = The activity of buying and selling using a mobile device.

In recent years, the exponential increase in the power of mobile technology has meant that phones and tablets can handle more complex tasks. Mobile internet speeds have also seen a huge improvement, to the point where online shopping is made easy even in remote areas. The vast majority of major retailers have released apps and mobile-friendly websites to take advantage of the new development in how consumers buy online.

QR codes are a common sight in stores, which link to websites or apps on your phone. Near field communication (NFC) is now also widely used to pay for goods in physical stores. This involves wireless technology in devices communicating with each other, which in this case requires a phone to be able to pay for goods when held near a card machine. Services such as Apple Pay and Google Pay are used to facilitate this.

M-commerce is still growing rapidly, with total sales in 2022 reaching over $4.9 trillion, yes, trillion. This growth is not expected to slow down, as the mobile revolution is still spreading to more areas of the developing world.