When developing a mobile strategy, retailers need to consider the maturity of their current offering and identify m-commerce opportunities that make the most business sense.

1. • Cognizant 20-20 Insights
Measuring M-Commerce Maturity:
A Must-Do in a Mobile-Enabled World
Executive Summary The vast majority of retailers, however, have
been slow to appreciate the power of the
Mobility is transforming how consumers shop
mobile channel, or m-commerce as it has come
and how retailers manage their businesses.
to be known. Fence sitters still exist, even though
Consumers, powered with information about
some retailers have made piecemeal progress.
products and prices right at their fingertips and
Among those retailers that have embraced
available on the go, are driving this change, and
m-commerce, many are still searching for a
retailers are forced to follow. The business case
comprehensive strategy. According to a 2011
has shifted from “whether” to “how and what.”
survey by Forrester Research, Inc.,1 about 81% of
News reports paint a story of this ongoing retail online retailers have or are developing a mobile
transformation, as well as the industry investment strategy. However, according to Forrester, many
and exceptionally high hopes in this area (see strategies are in the early stages, with 45% of
Figure 1). 202 respondents saying they were just beginning
to work on a strategy, and just one-third saying
News Reports on Retail their defined mobile strategy was more than one
Transformation year old.2
eBay Mobile Sales Grow 134%
But as the mobile revolution sweeps the consumer
world, retailers everywhere are belatedly waking
Shopping by Mobile Will Grow up to m-commerce’s potential. It’s no wonder that
to $119 Billion in 2015 investment in mobile is a priority for many retail-
have ers this year, and beyond. According to Forrester,3
tions M
ansac 8 to $500
bile tr 00 70% of respondents plan to increase their mobile
al mo in 2
PayP om $25M 10
n fr in 20
grow searc
hes investments in 2011 compared with 2010. And 70%
Google up 230%
lated
ing-re evices we
Shopp obile d
re
of respondents in a National Retail Foundation/
m
from
in 201
0 KPMG survey said they considered e-commerce
US mobile payments will and m-commerce as a strategic initiative for 2011,
reach $1 trillion by 2015 up from 28% a year ago.
Home De
pot's $64
Investmen Million Mo
t Rolls Ou bile
t to 1,970
Stores Seeking the M-Commerce Fast Track
site
Marks & Spencer
mobile commerce
4 Progressive retailers such as Target, Best Buy,
que visitors in just
nets 1.2 million uni
months since its
launch Amazon and eBay have strong mobile offerings
covering various platforms, utilizing mobile device
Figure 1 capabilities and providing rich user experience
cognizant 20-20 insights | june 2011

2. and functionality. While they attempt to fully there,” many retailers gave little thought to
engage customers on this new channel, others the aforementioned questions, leading to weak
are still building an m-commerce foundation. offerings that do not keep customers engaged or,
worse, make them frustrated. It is high time for
Before retailers hop on the mobile bandwagon retailers to act.
with both feet, they must ask themselves:
Mobile Maturity Assessment
• How does my mobile strategy fit into the
overall multichannel strategy? A key starting point, either for retailers with an
offering in place or in the planning stages, is
• Does my mobile strategy have the right
to assess the maturity of their mobile offering
elements to help advance my m-commerce
goals? Is it flexible enough to quickly adapt to (current and future) and identify opportunities
the dynamic marketplace? that make the most business sense. The biggest
hurdle, considering the vast ocean of opportuni-
• Do I have a team aligned and empowered to
ties available and the buzz around mobile, is an
execute on that strategy?
objective, holistic and systematic way to perform
• What feature set should my mobile offering such an assessment.
include, near-term and longer-term?
Our Retail Multichannel Strategy Consulting
• How do I design the user interface for the best
Practice has developed a framework to objective-
shopper experience?
ly assess the maturity of a mobile offering. Called
• What technology architecture should I adopt?
mVal (for mobile eValuator), this framework can
Most retailers, if not all, have a mobile presence also be used to benchmark a retailer’s mobile
— either a native app running on an iPhone or offering against competitive offerings within
Android device, a mobile-optimized Web site or the retail industry or other customer-centric
both. However, very few mobile offerings have industries, leading to an understanding of the
met retailers’ expectations. Responding to the contextually relevant opportunities and best
pressure of quickly “getting something out practices available.
M-Commerce Assessment Methodology
Measure Match Mobilize
Assess current Compare with industry Identify opportunities
channel capability benchmarks to enhance
Assess current state of Assess mobile implementation Identify opportunities
mobile offerings on the of competitors. for improvement.
Activities
following dimensions:
Collect mobile best Prioritize opportunities
Strategy practices from other based on value and cost.
Organizational effectiveness relevant industries.
Functionality Develop a roadmap
User experience Perform gap analysis. to achieve desired state.
Technology
Maturity assessment Comprehensive assessment Maturity profiler
Tools
questionnaires questionnaires Health scorecard
Exhaustive list of mobile Industry best Comparison matrix
retail features practices reports
Retailer’s mobile health scorecard Industry best practices
Results
Mobile maturity profiles of competition Recommendations
Detailed feature comparison matrix Roadmap
Figure 2
cognizant 20-20 insights 2

3. The objectives of mVal include the following: In addition to the overall maturity scores for the
five dimensions, mVal provides drill-down scores
• Assess the maturity of your current mobile
at detailed levels. The approach not only helps
offering along the following dimensions:
retailers unearth opportunities, but it also allows
> Mobile strategy these businesses to prioritize opportunities in a
> Organizational effectiveness systematic way, clearly showing, in a graphical
format, the trade-offs among the opportunities.
> Feature/Functionality
Sample outputs are depicted in Figure 3.
> User experience
> Technology Embracing M-Commerce
• Benchmark against competitors to identify Armed with a powerful weapon — the smartphone
strengths and opportunities. — the consumer is truly the king. And like a king,
the consumer is demanding, hard to please, has
• Identify best practices and insights from other
a fleeting attention span and can be punishing.
industries for differentiation.
This is why retailers need to not only provide
Based on our experience working on various consumers with a mobile offering but do so with
mobile initiatives, we have developed a detailed proper due diligence. It is equally important to
set of parameters to objectively assess each of the continuously scan the marketplace and make
above dimensions. mVal calculates the maturity sure (relative to rivals) that the mobile offering
scores for each dimension, providing retailers remains fresh and engaging.
with a clear view of where the gaps lie. Figure A mature offering will be the one that not only
2 provides an overview of the mVal assessment keeps the customer happy but also helps achieve
methodology. the lofty m-commerce goals expected by the
industry.
mVal Sample Outputs
3.50
3.5
3.00
3.0 2.75
2.50
2.5 Key Performance Areas Health Indicator
2.0 !
Scores
1.50 Product Search
1.5 3
Product Catalog Display
1.0 Store Locator 3
0.5 Account Management 6
0.0 Shopping Cart/Payment !
Mobile Organizational Functionality User Technology
Strategy Effectiveness Experience
Mobile Maturity Profile Health Scorecard
y4
y5
y3
y2
y1
pan
pan
pan
pan
pan
High
Com
Com
Com
Com
Com
Product Search • XXXX provides option to search using a 10 2 13
3 17
1.02 0.76 1.95 0.58 3.22
barcode scan
7 4
Product Catalog • XXXX displays departments using tappable 9
Display 2.18 1.97 3.46 2.91 2.56 images rather than the usual list structure 5
Value
Shopping Cart
& Checkout X • Except XXXX and XXXX, others provide
cart on the native app 20 11 1 15
2.32 2.38 3.06 2.91 2.56 • XXXX allows a gifting option during checkout 12
Deals & • Most apps have a strong focus on deals, with 18 19
Promotions deals and offerings on the home page 16
2.66 1.46 1.56 2.24 3.23 8
14
X • Only XXXX and XXXX provide informationwith
Store Locator on 6
store events and announcements, along Low
1.33 2.38 2.14 2.10 3.00 basic store information in store locator
Low High
Lists • Only XXXX provides detailed list functionality Complexity
0.96 0.96 0.00 1.67 1.11 • XXXX allows placing items on a “watch list”
Gift Registry • Only XXXX allows management of a gift
0.00 0.00 0.00 1.74 0.00 registry on the app Prioritization Matrix
Competitive Analysis
Figure 3
cognizant 20-20 insights 3

4. Footnotes
1
“The State Of Retailing Online 2011: Marketing, Social, And Mobile,” Forrester Research, Inc., June 3, 2011,
http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/state_of_retailing_online_2011_marketing%2C_social%2C/q/
id/58625/t/2
2
“How Mature Is Your Mobile Strategy,” Forrester Research, Inc., October 18, 2010.
3
“How Mature Is Your Mobile Strategy,” Forrester.
About the Authors
Surya Prakash Saurabh is a Consulting Manager in the Retail Practice within Cognizant Business
Consulting. He has an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management and helps retail clients succeed in
their multichannel initiatives. He can be reached at Surya.PrakashSaurabh@cognizant.com.
About Cognizant
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