Companies will generate 50% of Web sales via their social presence and mobile applications by 2015, estimated IT research firm Gartner.
Gartner said that vendors in the e-Commerce market will begin to offer new context-aware, mobile-based application capabilities that can be accessed via a browser or installed as an application on a phone.
Gartner analysts said that as the number of mobile phones overtakes PCs, customers will use mobile browsers and applications as the main points of interaction.
Gartner research vice-president Gene Alvarez said e-Commerce organisations will need to scale up their operations to handle the increased visitation loads resulting from customers not having to wait until they are in front of a PC to obtain answers to questions or place orders.
"In time, e-commerce vendors will begin to offer context-aware mobile-shopping solutions as part of their overall Web sales offerings," said Alvarez.
He added, "Customers are clamoring for new and easy ways to interact with the organizations they deal with, and no company should think itself immune to this new business dynamic.
"As more people use smartphones, they will expect an extension of their customer experience to be supported by this kind of device while demanding that social aspects of the Web be intertwined with this experience. At the same time, organizations are looking toward new countries and regions for growth. As a result, it is time to take a fresh look at your organization’s Web sales capabilities to ensure that social software, mobile technology and globalization are part of your organization’s online future."
Gartner predicted that by 2013, 80% of North American and European online sellers will expand into Brazil, Russia, India, Africa, Japan or China.
"The increasing availability of access to the Internet via PCs, laptops and mobile devices is creating new sales channels in countries, because entry barriers are lowering, thereby increasing the number of online shoppers," said Alvarez. "By entering these countries via an Internet sales model, organizations can establish a presence in locations without having to create a physical sales location."
