Report: U.S. mobile e-commerce sales to rise dramatically by 2015

Coda Research Consultancy forecasts that mobile eCommerce revenues in the US will reach $23.8bn in 2015. This is a compound annual growth rate of +65% over 2009.

A central driver to this growth is smartphone ownership and corresponding mobile internet use. "With smartphone sales set to form two thirds of mobile handset sales in the US in 2015, and over half of mobile handset owners forecast to use the mobile internet in the same year, opportunities for mobile eCommerce are expanding significantly," says Steve Smith, Founder of Coda Research Consultancy.

"In terms of online purchase of physical goods, we foresee a rising trend in using handsets to research products, compare prices and buy online whilst out shopping. This will become more sophisticated, for example through intelligent cameras, barcode scanners, QR codes, and location based applications and services." Alongside the purchase of physical goods, Coda notes the importance of virtual goods in mobile gaming and social networks, and of mobile entertainment such as video.

"In 2015, US mobile eCommerce revenues will form 8.5 percent of all US eCommerce revenues, and 20 percent of global mobile eCommerce revenues." However, in a cautionary note, Smith also explains that US mobile eCommerce revenues will represent only one half of one percent of all retail revenues in the US that year.