The ICM consumer poll in the latest issue of Retail Week shows that mobile commerce is still in its infancy, yet the acceleration of retail could see it reach maturity much more quickly than the internet.

It will come as little surprise that 90% of the more than 2000 consumers polled by ICM Research for Retail Week have never bought anything using their mobile phone. It’s fairly simple to tell the kind of device consumers are using to access your website, and so retailers will know from their web analytics the percentage of consumers logging on from phones, and also whether they are checking prices or actually making purchases.

What it is much harder to tell, but perhaps more important to know, is how quickly consumer behaviour will change. How quickly will the 8% who have purchased using a mobile phone grow to match the ratios of consumers who shop online, for example?

No retail IT department can provide a crystal ball, unfortunately, but retailers intuitively know that the pace of change in their industry is increasing. The growth and increasing power of the web took many by surprise a decade ago; now retailers are better prepared for consumer behaviour and consumer expectations to change almost overnight.

The signs that mobile could take a sharp growth trajectory are there. While only 8% have yet bought anything using a mobile phone, 18% said that were they to shop on their mobile they would like to use a full mobile version of a retailer’s website, and a further 8% would like to use mobile apps.

Given that they had the choice of saying they would prefer not to shop using their mobile, that more than a quarter gave a positive answer should encourage those retailers who have mobile sites and apps in development. Those that don’t have mobile on their development roadmap should at least keep a close eye on how quickly the ratio of mobile visitors to their website is changing.

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