M- Commerce is also referred as to ecommerce which is buying or selling at online platform. It takes place through electronic devices like mobile, laptops and tablets and through electronic network i.e. internet (Panneerselvam, 2013). E-commerce has several advantages and disadvantages. The biggest advantage of it is that it provides easy access to the stores and is easy to use. It creates a new marketing channel an assist traditional retain sales of the company. The biggest disadvantage is that most of the population still does not have access to electronic devices and networks. There is a lack of reliability in ecommerce (Panneerselvam, 2013).
M commerce is creating buzz across the world and there are applications which makes it easy for the businesses as well as consumers to connect (Eze, Ten & Poong, 2011).
Commercial applications of m-commerce
- Banking, stocks and insurance: m commerce is used in the banking, stocks and insurance sector for paying bills, transfer of money from banks and to the stock brokers and shares. Mobile commerce helps banks in providing 24*7 services to the customers (Panneerselvam, 2013).
- Marketing and advertising: The companies use m- commerce in advertising its products and services. They provide mobile vouchers and coupons to attract the customers for shopping. The companies also send emails and SMS’s to inform the customers about the latest offers and discounts on the products and services.
- Health care: In Healthcare, there are applications which provide information about the doctors and professional services to the service users. In healthcare, the hospitals and clinics provide the appointment details and the other details on emails or messages (Eze, Ten & Poong, 2011).
- Government and public services: The government uses m- commerce in providing the facilities of booking tickets and paying insurance premium online.
The recent applications of m- commerce include mobile money transfers through online applications, Mobile wallets, wearable data in form of smart watches and fitness trackers, etc. It helps the businesses in keeping them ahead (Eze, Ten & Poong, 2011).
References
Eze, U C, Ten, M A T, Poong, Y 2011, ‘Mobile Commerce Usage in Malaysia’, International Conference on Social Science and Humanity.
Panneerselvam, M K 2013, ‘Mobile Commerce – A Mode of Modern Business’, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing & Management Review, Vol 2 (7).
