Forrester: Mobile commerce to hit $31 billion by 2016

New York City -- Mobile commerce is expected to reach $31 billion by the end of 2016, according to a new report from Forrester Research.



The report, “Mobile Commerce Forecast: 2011 to 2016,” predicts an annual compound growth rate of 39% for mobile commerce over the next five years.



The report predicts mobile commerce will reach $6 billion by the end of this year, $10 billion next year and $31 billion by 2016.



But despite the high rate of growth, Forrester predicts mobile commerce will account for only 7% of all e-commerce sales by 2016 and 1% of overall sales. Mobile commerce will account for 2% of e-commerce sales this year and 3% next year.



A number of things are stopping people from using phones to shop, Forrester said, starting with security. Technical barriers, including slow and hard-to-navigate mobile sites and confusion among retailers about how best to pursue their mobile strategies, are also considerations.



According to the report, 29% of retailers have already implemented a mobile strategy, 19% are starting work on implementation, 9% have a strategy they have not implemented yet while 39% are in the early stages of developing a strategy.