Page 1 of 5
European Journal of Business &
Social Sciences
Available at https://ejbss.org/
ISSN: 2235-767X
Volume 07 Issue 01
January 2019
Available online: https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 93
M-commerce in India: problems, issues and challenges
GAGANDEEP
Extension Lecturer in Commerce
D. Govt. College, Gurugram
Abstract
In today’s world where globe is treated as village M-commerce have paved the way to connect
all the consumers using smart phones to the global market. The global Smartphone market is
growing fast with continuous advancement in technology and digital trends. The worldwide
Smartphone users is forecast to reach 2.1 billion and in India the number of smart phone users is
estimated to reach 340.2million in 2016. M-commerce is well known for multiple benefits to the
business, government, and consumers on massive scale. All the companies, organisations, and
communities in India who are doing e-commerce are gradually shifting to M-commerce which is
an advance technology. The tremendous growth in the use of smart phone in India shows that
majority of Indian population has adapted to mobile phone and advancement in mobile
technology. The usage of smart phone is not limited for making basic phone calls, messaging or
playing games but can be used virtually in every section of human activity. Whether it is private,
business or government. It is observed that majority of the people using E-commerce
hesitate to use M-commerce because of security issues, payment problems and awareness. An
attempt is made to study the following objectives through this paper
1. To study the growth of M-commerce
2. To find out the problems and issues with M-commerce in India
3. To study the challenges of M-commerce in India.
Keywords: m-commerce, e-commerce, mobile applications, advance technology, consumers
Introduction
Mobile commerce also referred as M-commerce is the extension of E-commerce. It was
originally introduced in 1997 by Kevin Duffey at the launch of the Global mobile commerce
Forum to mean” the delivery of electronic Commerce/transaction capabilities directly in to the
customers hand anytime and anywhere, via wireless network Technology [1]. M-commerce
includes the purchase and sale of wide range of products and services such as online banking,
bill payment and information delivery. They follow you were ever you go, making it possible to
look for a nearby malls, restaurants and so on. M-commerce includes many applications,
technology, services and business models [2]. Mobile commerce refers to a wide range of online
business transactions for applications, goods and services. "The use of mobile devices to
communicate, interact via an always-on high-speed connection to the Internet.” "M-Commerce is
the use of information and communication technologies for the use of mobile integration of
different value chains in business processes and business relationships.” “Mobile Commerce is
the use of mobile Handheld devices to communicate, inform transact and entertain using text and
data via a connection to public and private networks.”
Growth of m-commerce
Page 2 of 5
European Journal of Business &
Social Sciences
Available at https://ejbss.org/
ISSN: 2235-767X
Volume 07 Issue 01
January 2019
Available online: https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 94
The increasing adoption of E-commerce has provided a strong foundation for M-commerce. The
number of smart phone users is forecast to grow from 1.5billion in 2014 to around 2.5 billion in
2018. It is estimated that nearly 36% of the world population is project to use smart phone by
2018 up from about 10% in 2011. In china the numbers of smart phone users is forecast to grow
from 480 million in 2013 to almost 690 million in 2019. Around half of the Chinese population
is projected to use smart phones by 2018. In united states, the people using smart phones is
around 170 million in 2014 and expected to increase by 236 million in 2019. According to
KPCB partner Mary Meeker’s 2015 internet trends report India is at an inflection point in term of
internet penetration growth. It is the largest country in terms of new internet additions, adding 63
million internet users by the end of 2014. This is double of china which added 31 million
internet users during the year. India seems to be the leader in the switch to mobile for E- commerce companies’ with mobile platform accounting for 41% total E-commerce sales in
2014. This report shows that Indian E-commerce leaders are also more mobile centric as
compared to global leaders. In India the smart phone users has increased from 76million in
2013to 204 million with a percentage of 37.25, and is expected to 317 million in 2019. Though
there is a rapid growth of increase of smart phone, it is observed from the above data only 9 %
are using M-commerce. The following factors are considered for rapid growth in Mcommerce
Speed M-commerce through mobile phones is becoming very fast and easier every day. It gives
instant satisfaction for customers and allows business to create urgency and drive sales through
the use of short term discounts.
Issues and challenges
Growth of mobile commerce in India is about 2% but we can able to increase this growth level if
we take some appropriate steps for making some relevant policies and make factors more
favourable for mobile commerce growth [6]. There are the some issues which directly or
indirectly affects the growth of М-commerce adversely. Many of the issues faced by М- commerce are as follows: -
1. Wireless network coverage
2. Security issues
3. Technical mismatching among various devices (Wireless)
4. Lack of standard etc.
5. Slow access speed
6. High cost of phones
Many of the challenges faced by М-commerce are as follows
Lack of awareness
Most of the people in India are not aware of M-commerce. The Indian literacy rate is 74.04%
still people are afraid to purchase things on line. Most of the people of India even does not know
what they have with them and how to make the best use of it [7]. Even some of them feeling
insecure while doing transaction through smart phone.
Low internet connectivity (2G, 3G)
Page 3 of 5
European Journal of Business &
Social Sciences
Available at https://ejbss.org/
ISSN: 2235-767X
Volume 07 Issue 01
January 2019
Available online: https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 95
It is acceptable that in India still the internet connectivity is under the dark room. The broad band
connection is not accessible at many rural places.. For e.g. we can see that concept of 4G is
introduced in the Pune & Bangalore but default is, rates are very high.
Lake of simple, standardized payment mechanism
Like ATM or credit card no other mode of payment is become popular in India. As they are easy
to make payment than other mode so, it create a problem for growing М- commerce in doing
financial transaction even though "Mobile Wallets" concept is there.
Language Barrier
Most of the apps available are using the common language English. And many Indians are not so
good at English. They generally prefer their own language. And till known there are only few
applications which are available in regional languages, hence Language becomes one of the
major factor to purchase, hire and sell the product.
Heterogeneous Environment
A wide range of development of applications is the great challenge for every service provider.
Multiple operating systems with multiple browsers are available for mobile users but in case of
PC’s only two are application looks different on different screen & than it become a great
challenge.
Security
The speed of the internet does not allow the user to make the payment successfully. Fear of
hacking and attack by viruses to the device is commonly seen in the user. While doing some
transaction if anything goes wrong either we have to make payment again else our order remains
pending and many times cancelled. So, security system is a challenge.
Privacy
Fear of hacking the security of user as sometimes users need to disclose some secret information
while doing monetary transactions if information get hacked then it cause great problem to the
user. So, it is also a great challenge while doing transaction.
ROPO
Research Online and Purchase Offline tendency of the people. In India huge number of people
are using and buying using phones, many people still prefer viewing products and
comparing online but they believe in feel and buy method as they don’t want to involve in
returning policies and all that.
People are technology lovers but not users
