Comment: Mobile technology makes shopping a richer experience

Congratulations to the 50 most influential people who have made it into Retail Week’s Etail Power List 2012. You’ve taken your place in history and are now shaping the future of British ecommerce.

We’re living in frenetic times, with the line between the online world and the high street blurring more and more each day. New types of mobile technology are making shopping a richer experience, more convenient and simpler than ever before.

Ecommerce may be booming, but m-commerce, its younger, cooler sibling, is catching up fast. Ofcom predicts mobile commerce to grow exponentially with £19.3bn to come from UK mobile retail alone by 2021*. Smartphones now allow us to carry the internet with us wherever we go. They’ve opened up a world of possibilities, fundamentally changing the way we shop. And there’s no turning back. In fact, PayPal expects to process $10bn in mobile payments worldwide by the end of 2012 – that’s a growth of 150% from last year.

There will be a time in the very near future when we won’t need to carry wallets stuffed with cash and plastic onto the high street. Instead, we’ll be able to pay anywhere and anytime using any number of devices.

But it’s not simply about replacing wallets with phones. The exciting bit is having access to loyalty programmes, offers and different payment methods on any connected device, wherever your customers are.

Ours is a fast-moving industry and we’re sure to see more innovation and inspiration over the coming months and years. But for the time being, I’d like to congratulate everyone on the list. You’re the people changing the face of commerce by moving with the spirit of the times – and giving your customers exactly what they want: to shop on their terms.

* Response to Ofcom Consultation on the Assessment of the Future of Mobile Competition by eBay UK. Based on research conducted by Verdict Research in May 2011 on behalf of eBay UK

• Mark Brant, General manager merchant services, PayPal UK