e to m commerce

Society today is based on transactional behaviour. Development in any field which leads to establishment of transactional practices will, if conditions are set right, see phenomenal growth.

The key conditions for m-commerce in India are certainly ready. India has approximately 160 million mobile subscribers with a steady addition of at least 4 – 5 million new subscribers every month. The opportunity for Commerce abounds in the mobile domain to provide end-users ease of payment anywhere, anytime.

The Asia Pacific region has already taken a lead in successfully implementing M-commerce applications. Countries like Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong are not only adopting mobile payment system enthusiastically, but also new technologies and products that lead to mobile phones acting as ‘mobile wallets’. 

M-commerce has the potential to enhance the buying experience for end users, generate business opportunities, and provide instant access to a number of services.  It is pertinent to mention though that Indian subscribers are yet at the nascent stage when it comes to embracing these services. One of their major concerns is the security and reliability of sending credit card details over a network. Strict government policies and guidelines will go a long way in allaying these fears. There has been perception that M-commerce services are for the elite.  This needs to be addressed, and the widespread availability of increasing applications is a sure way to overcome the barrier.

Already applications for booking of movie tickets, railway tickets and payment of utility bills are available across all telco companies. As customers become more comfortable about using mobiles to conduct transactions, mobile banking services and even retail sale services will become acceptable to end users. As more user-friendly applications which help in making life easier are developed, it isn’t long before subscribers across demographics adopt them in their daily life. M-commerce is becoming a reality.

Divine blessings are just an sms away

Who is that one person in whose good books you always want to be in? Think about it? Except for agnostics and perhaps communists, most would opt for lord all mighty!

So whom do you revere? Siddhi Vinayak? Tirupati Balaji? Mata Sheravali? Shrinathji? Don’t you wish you could be blessed without taking those precious days off from your work and undertaking a journey to temples? If only you could offer prayers from comfort of your residence? How wonderful it would be to have the facility of puja being conducted by priests of the temple by paying for it by just sending a sms. Religion based ringtones have already captured the imagination and a sizeable chunk of the ringtone market. In a country where religion is such an integral part of life, perhaps this m-commerce application will break the mental barrier against mobile based purchasing.

And then we can look forward to a bouquet of services – special ringtones, video streaming of the puja offering, blessed sms messages that can be forwarded to friends and relatives. It would also offer great advertising opportunity to manufacturers of puja products, hotels near temples, special religion based travel schemes, courier service (after all some courier company will bring prasad for you).