Mobile, online transactions to reach 125bn annually by 2018

The world is set to see an explosion in the number of mobile and online transactions, growing to 125-billion in 2018, an increase of 60% from this year’s total.

That’s according to a new report from Juniper Research, which says that medium term growth would be driven by a variety of factors including a rise in “commuter commerce” (on-the-go purchases) which would itself be fuelled by greater deployments of Wi-Fi and 4G connectivity on public transport.

The report also observed that digital transaction volumes would be further bolstered with the continued transition from physical formats (such as DVDs and CD-ROMs) to digital, and the rise in streamed subscription services.

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Another major factor in this growth is the increasing connectivity and spending power of the Chinese population. According to Juniper Research, there’s been a dramatic surge in Chinese eRetail, with Alibaba attracting more than 330 million buyers during 2014. The report observed that with nearly US$450 billion worth of online sales during 2014, China had comfortably surpassed the US (US$296-billion) to become the largest single market, with Japan, the UK and France completing the top five.

Safety a growing concern

Alongside that growth however, there’s been an increasing number of high profile data breaches. As well as causing serious systems damage, these breaches can also seriously harm site credibility.

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“At worst, data breaches can lead to significant customer churn, together with possible remuneration requirements,” says research author Dr Windsor Holden. “Consumers need to be reassured that their vital information is not being compromised or shared.”

The research also notes that retailers need to deliver a consistency of message, branding and shopping experience across all channels and that they should ensure that they scale up the resources on offer at peak periods (eg Black Friday or when promotions are being offered), to cope with the likelihood of additional pressures on online customer support.