Combining the Benefits of Traditional Commerce and E-Commerce with M-Commerce benefits in the Retail Industry

Abstract: The convergence of traditional and electronic commerce practices is being driven by the need for businesses to keep up with the ever increasing competition of online retailing. This thesis aims to examine and analyze the possible benefits that may arise via the use and development of rapidly evolving mobile technology, through analyzing the benefits of each of the forms of commerce during outlined stages of retail process, in order to evaluate to what extend the benefits can be combined. The benefits of each form of commerce were studied by observing existing theories and validated as perceived benefits through consumer surveys and management interviews.The theoretical part of this thesis is based on academic literature in the subject of Traditional commerce, Electronic commerce and Mobile commerce. The empirical studies were conducted as both qualitative and quantitative research, with a consumer survey conducted with 350 students, as well as two interviews with managers of retail stores in Västerås, Sweden.Results of the analysis shows that Mobile commerce has a role to play in better combining the benefits of traditional and electronic commerce and results in a combined figure implementing the findings into a working model, which we have dubbed ‘the four I’s of commerce’. The results are aimed at aiding retail managers in determining whether or not to implement a revised business model including the aspect of mobile commerce.