By Hisham Isa, Vice President (Marketing)
The vast majority of consumers in Southeast Asia use the mobile internet on a regular basis. If you're not advertising on it, you should be. But while the region is definitely a great place to be in the mobile industry, one area is lagging behind: m-Commerce.
It's not that consumers wouldn't like to conduct transactions with their phones. Rather it's that the trust – and in some case, the necessary infrastructure – isn't there. Banks, telcos and governments need to address this in two ways. First, they need to create an environment that fosters genuine trust, by setting up new channels for consumer feedback acting upon the complaints. And second, they need to embark on better public education campaigns to publicise the availability and security of existing m-commerce platforms.
For the first part, we don't need to look far to find a good example . . . .
The vast majority of consumers in Southeast Asia use the mobile internet on a regular basis. If you're not advertising on it, you should be. But while the region is definitely a great place to be in the mobile industry, one area is lagging behind: m-Commerce.
It's not that consumers wouldn't like to conduct transactions with their phones. Rather it's that the trust – and in some case, the necessary infrastructure – isn't there. Banks, telcos and governments need to address this in two ways. First, they need to create an environment that fosters genuine trust, by setting up new channels for consumer feedback acting upon the complaints. And second, they need to embark on better public education campaigns to publicise the availability and security of existing m-commerce platforms.
For the first part, we don't need to look far to find a good example . . . .
