Tapping Into Mobile Platforms is Key For Businesses and Startups in Asia to Grow

Departing an era where people access the internet from desktop PCs, technology now allows people to access the internet from anywhere through a multitude of devices – smartphones, tablets, and even TVs. About a year ago, Asia already had more than one billion internet users that are spread across different devices, from mobiles to PC’s. ComScore says in its Brave New Digital World Report that the Asian market is now experiencing a new digital world, and warns businesses to keep up.

Asian mobile market is huge

ComScore calls today’s consumers the “digital ominivores.” It’s because people are “quickly becoming platform agnostic in their digital media consumption.” This is happening most especially in Asia. In 2012, 623 million people in the region access the web through their mobile phones. And this number is constantly growing. This only means that businesses’ traditional means of reaching out to customers won’t work anymore. Here’s what the study says:

If businesses don’t adapt, they may not live to see tomorrow. Not to strike an unnecessarily ominous tone, but this storyline has played out before with many substantial businesses of the past few decades having recently declared bankruptcy due to the disruptive impact of the internet and e-commerce.

Not all businesses will win

We recently witnessed how Multiply, the once fast-growing pan-Asian e-commerce site, shut down after it was left behind by newer e-commerce ventures in the region.

So Comscore highlights that it is a must for businesses to embrace change and the new trends that are being followed by consumers because “there will be winners and losers along the way.” The best way to do that is to tap into new digital platforms. Today, it is by using mobile platforms.

The report highlights cites the leaders that have emerged in the digital scene in recent years: Amazon created the Kindle, Google developed the Android operating system, and Facebook pushed into mobile content which became a $1 billion advertising business in less than a year.

Many startups are also recognizing this today by jumping into mobile commerce, or ‘m-commerce’. As of last month, Rocket Internet’s Zalora is already getting 25 percent of its revenue from e-shoppers on mobile devices. And everything related to mobile seems to be growing recently. So it seems that this trend is not going away soon. Every business that wants to lead must recognize this trend and act on it.

(Editing by: Anh-Minh Do and Steven Millward)