Is Mobile Commerce Ready?

The Global Mobile Internet Conference in Beijing, China included a panel discussing the state of mobile commerce. These were the participants:

• Moderator: WANG Yuquan, Founder, Open Application Alliance
• TAO Ning, COO, Innovation Works
• Alex Qiu, General Manager, Taobao Wireless
• WANG Chunhuan, Vice President, Vancl
• Kathy Xu, Founder & Managing Partner, Capital Today Group
• Evgeny Kosolapov, CEO Asia, i-Free
• YAO Jinbo, 58.com, CEO

Moderator: Is mobile commerce just for the big players? Can internet entrepreneurs enter?

Alex Qiu said that he believes there are opportunities for everyone. In fact it is a best time for entrepreneurs to strike. He said that mobile commerce is a huge market and entrepreneurs can play a role by focusing on niche opportunites to ride the wave.

Yao Jinbao said he is very excited about the mobile commerce space. He said that 58.com, will be integrating [application] location-based service and social features to his e-commerce platform [group buying]. He also said that the opportunity within mobile commerce is beyond imagination. He believes there are a lot of changes ahead and entrepreneurs would play a huge role to shape the industry.

Moderator: Would third party e-commerce app aggregator be in danger of getting blocked by key e-commerce players?

Kathy Xu said that it is inevitable that key players have to open up their platform for aggregators to help bring in deals. She also said that building up a new e-commerce site is tough. Entrepreneurs could work on aggregating sales and differentiating by providing the best user experience. Who knows, aggregators could turn out to be bigger than e-commerce sites themselves to the extent that they become indispensable.

Kosolapov said that entrepreneurs are more than welcome to join the mobile commerce revolution. “It’s a blue ocean more than a red ocean,” he described.

On the growth of mobile commerce, Xu said that it is all about timing. With more mobile commerce services that provide value such as location based offers or discounts combined with the rise of smartphone, a boom in m-commerce might be near. Smartphone adoption rate would increase sharply once the price drops in China.

“Most Chinese are already reading through mobile phones and surfing on the internet. Mentality, users are prepared to embrace the mobile revolution. Paying through the mobile phone might need a little while longer,” Xu commented.

Wang said that WAP services isn’t dead. “We need to build services to cater for them,” he added. Xu added that some people who are using WAP services are also doing 2nd hand selling on the web. “These are the people who might be m-commerce adopters in the future,” she said.

Tao Ning said Innovation Works invests in two types of m-commerce companies: one for smartphone platforms like Android, iOS and Symbian and another for feature phones. As someone who experienced the shift from the tradition to the mobile internet, she noticed that user experience and design have increasingly become an important factor. Yao seconded Tao’s point.

Last but not least, Tao Ning ended the session by saying “mobile commerce depends on how creative the industry players and entrepreneurs are.”