Mobile retailers

Mobile commerce is easily outpacing other retail channels as the fastest-growing and with only one way to go: up.

Retailers have been slow to keep up with tablet shopping behavior, with the average company investing just $14,000 on tablet commerce tools, per a new study by Forrester Research.

In the past six months, mcommerce has grown by 25 percent, faster than any other mobile channel, according to a Forrester analyst.

The world’s largest mobile commerce platform company has a bird’s-eye view of how brands, retailers and consumers are turning to smartphones and tablets for fulfilling searching, shopping and buying activity. Does Usablenet see a tipping point for mobile commerce on the horizon?

BilltoMobile is set to introduce its payment service to let merchants process Web purchases on more than 200 wireless carriers worldwide.

Fifty percent of consumers in the United States use a mobile device to navigate their hectic shopping experience, according to a study by Leo Burnett’s marketing services arm Arc Worldwide.

Businesses may be losing customers due to poor mobile experiences, as 63 percent of all online adults surveyed said they would be less likely to buy from the same company via other channels if they experienced a problem with a mobile transaction.

Almost half – 48 percent – of consumers use their mobile devices to research or browse products and services, according to Oracle’s “Mobile Trends: Consumer Views of Mobile Shopping and Mobile Service Providers” report.

Despite the fact that there is a high level of interest from consumers in making mobile payments, security concerns are the largest barrier to market growth and consumer adoption, according to a report by Mobio Identity Systems.

At SXSW this week, JiWire and TabbedOut, which lets bar and restaurant customers pay their tabs via their smartphones, are hosting a location-based campaign and bar crawl March 12 and 13 at watering holes around Austin.