Mobile Commerce » Mobify Blog | Mobile Commerce and Publishing

Facebook IPO: the Mobile Story revealed in S-1 Filing

Feb 022012

Since the Facebook IPO is all over the news we thought we’d examine the facet of the story that interests us the most – the mobile story and what was revealed in their S-1 filing.

Background and Context

A few months ago we looked at a snapshot of Facebook’s sharing data on mobile and found that 57% of all sharing was through the mobile web, with all apps on all platforms combined – iPhone, Android and Blackberry – contributing 40%.

(Click for full size image.)

Combine that data snapshot with ongoing rumors of a full HTML-5 version of Facebook, fit for the mobile web and codenamed Project Spartan, and we can start to see the macro trend of Facebook’s business and users is to embrace the mobile web as essential.

Mobile Summary of S-1 Filing

In Facebook’s S-1 Filing, we saw more details on mobile usage, growth and revenues that caught our eyes.

(The S-1 is form companies use to describe their business when they go public. Here’s more background on S-1 filings.)

And a few of the mobile details that stood out in the coverage:

Facebook reports 845 million Monthly Active Users (MAUs)
57% of monthly active users visit Facebook every day and are classified as Daily Active Users (DAUs)
425 million of those monthly active users (~50%) used Facebook mobile products in December, 2011
Facebook does not serve advertising on its mobile experience so increased mobile usage actually hurts their revenues
Facebook are nervous about mobile because “user growth and engagement on mobile devices depend upon effective operation with mobile operating systems, networks, and standards that we do not control”

As covered by ReadWriteWeb in Facebook’s Biggest Risks Explained, quoting Antone Johnson in point form:

“No revenue currently generated from mobile advertising; unclear how much mobile use could be monetized; failure to solve this puzzle combined with a dramatic shift toward mobile usage could be a serious problem for FB; and per the next risk factor, they don’t control the iOS and Android platforms.”

So mobile presents a paradox for Facebook: huge growth, no current revenues.

Mobile is how their users are increasingly choosing to access Facebook but they haven’t figured out how to insert their key revenue driver – advertising – into the experience.

Mobile: Engine of International Growth

Reading the Facebook S-1 and knowing a lot about international mobile traffic, we can see that a heavyweight driver of Facebook growth around the world is the mobile web.

From the Facebook S-1:

There are more than two billion global Internet users, according to an industry source, and we aim to connect all of them. We have achieved varying levels of penetration within the population of Internet users in different countries. For example, in countries such as Chile, Turkey, and Venezuela we estimate that we have penetration rates of greater than 80% of Internet users; in countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States we estimate that we have penetration rates of approximately 60%; Increased mobile usage was a key contributor to this growth. DAUs as a percentage of MAUs increased from 54% in December 2010 to 57% in December 2011.

And as move towards 2014, the year when mobile becomes the #1 way to access the web, mobile will increase its importance as the engine for international growth of online businesses.

Reading into the numbers, it’s apparent that Facebook see the popularity of the mobile web today and also a dominant future for the mobile web around the globe.

So it will be interesting to watch their evolution as a public company, as they are required to share more information publicly.

If early indications are accurate, mobile apps will be part to their mobile strategy and the mobile web will be essential.

By James Sherrett 2 Responses »

Mobile Stats: 57% of Mobile Posting on Facebook from Mobile Web

Sep 302011

One of the discussions we often get invited to contribute to with clients is a discussion on their mobile strategy.

What’s the right thing for them to do: mobile apps or mobile web?

Each client has their own situation, customer needs, goals and context. A blog post won’t do justice to answering the full question.

But this blog post seeks to provide some data on how people use the largest website in the world with their mobile devices.

Using data gathered by Dan Zarrella in his strong post New Data: 33% of Facebook Posting is Mobile, we broke down the 33% of mobile traffic posting to Facebook a little further to see how they were accessing Facebook.

(Click for full size image.)

According to the 70,000 samples Dan gathered, mobile web contributes 57% of the mobile posts to Facebook. All apps combined contribute 43%.

So when we hear rumors of Facebook’s Project Spartan now we can start to see the reasoning behind the investment and direction towards a full HTML 5 version of Facebook.

Reading into the numbers, I think we can guess that Facebook see mobile web’s popularity today and they also see a dominant future for the mobile web.

So while apps are part to their mobile strategy, the mobile web is essential.

(Thanks to Darren Barefoot for the coffee and conversation that spurred this post.)

By Igor Faletski 3 Responses »

3 Reasons why Email Marketing is Key for Mobile E-commerce

Jan 232011

UPDATE: New stats from ComScore confirm that mobile email use is growing fast.

Recently we’ve been looking at the link between email marketing and mobile revenue. Turns out that a good email strategy quickly contributes to mobile purchases. Here are some of the early findings:

Email newsletter from Threadless

1) Email is often checked first thing in the morning – from a mobile device. Are you guilty of typing up an urgent reply while still in bed? As smartphone adoption grows, email is increasingly accessed on the go. When receiving digest emails from their favourite fashion brands, many mobile users will click the product links, heading directly to the e-commerce site.

2) Email often brings exclusive and time-sensitive promotions, creating a sense of urgency. Mobile shoppers are a lot more focused on purchasing a particular item. If something is on sale and limited in quantity, mobile devices will often be preferred.

3) Mobile e-commerce greatly benefits from email awareness campaigns. Many online shoppers still have poor expectations for the mobile web. Letting the audience know about a fully transactional mobile store is key for driving traffic and repeat customers. Newsletters are a great channel for this type of promotion.

Email is crucial for driving growth in mobile e-commerce and should be included in every retailer’s mobile marketing plan.

By Igor Faletski 3 Responses »

Mobile E-commerce: Do People Actually Buy Things On Mobile?

Jan 162011

Here is a recent tweet by Linda Bustos from GetElastic, the leading e-commerce blog:

My prediction: way more mobile ecommerce sites, but not a huge jump in mobile transactions for physical goods

December 10, 2010 1:55 pm via HootSuite ReplyRetweetFavorite

@Roxyyo

Linda Bustos

Aside from Amazon and EBay numbers, there simply isn’t a lot of public information regarding trends in mobile e-commerce transactions. This makes the total volume hard to tell. Here are some observations that we’d like to share with you today:

Mobile users buy even from “desktop” stores that don’t have a mobile version. The volume is already quite significant. If there is a good bargain to be had or when the purchase is time-sensitive, the user will find a way to get what they want. In a recent conversation, an online retailer stated that mobile users of their desktop store bought over a million dollars worth of merchandise in 2010. Had the mobile store been in place, the sales would have been even higher!
Launching a mobile store will multiply mobile revenue by at least 2x over the first 100 days. We are testing several versions of this “rule of thumb” with the goal of publishing a white paper sometime in Q2. The aggregate effects of reduced bounce rates, improved conversions and a better user experience have a very positive effect on the bottom line for any store.
iPad and other tablets are in their own revenue segment. It’s not uncommon to see iPad reported as the #1 mobile device by a retailer (that’s the default Google Analytics setting, as well). However, the iPad is competing with the desktop browsers much more so than with mobile devices. Tablet users typically have an easier time navigating regular websites and should be measured separately when it comes to bounce rates, conversions and revenue.

It’s clear that mobile e-commerce transactions for physical goods are increasingly more common, with many IR500 retailers having cleared seven and eight-figure thresholds in 2010. Everything points to mobile revenue growth accelerating in 2011, as well.

By melissa 3 Responses »

Kiwi Collection Goes Mobile

Jan 142011

Kiwi Collection, the world’s most trusted booking resource for exceptional hotels, recently launched their mobile website using Mobify’s Enterprise Solution.

Seeing a large uptick in mobile traffic, Kiwi Collection wanted to improve visitor’s mobile shopping experience without losing functionality of its desktop site and their signature gorgeous image galleries. Kiwi Collection’s mobile site retains all the usability of the desktop site including search, booking, full mobile payment, and rich image galleries.

“Using Mobify allowed Kiwi Collection to go mobile quickly, without losing our focus,” says Jackie Reid VP of Product at Kiwi Collection, “we’ve already seen an increase in mobile revenue.”

Mobify launched Kiwi Collection’s mobile website in under three weeks, in time to debut at the International Luxury Travel Market Conference in Cannes, France.

Check it out by going to www.kiwicollection.com on your iPhone, Android, or Blackberry 6 mobile device.

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