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In India, growth in the Internet user base is supplemented by substantial growth in smartphone usage (Kalia, Kaur, & Singh, 2018; Poushter, 2016). Internet user base in India is predicted to cross 627 million by the year 2020 (Kantar IMRB, 2020). With mobile device as the new constant companion, customers are using mobiles to exchange emails/pictures/videos, download music/animations/ graphics, shop for merchandise, play online games, access health and lifestyle apps, access Global Positioning System data, perform stock transactions, book tickets, discover companions, conduct monetary transactions, manage banking transactions, pay via mobile phone credit payment and purchase from vending machines etc. (Ahuja, 2018; AlHinai, Kurnia, & Johnston, 2007). Almost 94% of the Indian population use mobile phones for personal and professional reasons. This paradigm shift has led to immense market potential among Indian masses for adopting mobile commerce (or m-commerce) (Madan & Yadav, 2018; Bhullar & Gill, 2018).
M-commerce or mobile commerce is described as “any transaction with monetary value that is conducted via a mobile telecommunications network” (Müller-Veerse, 2000, Sadeh, 2003). Mobile commerce enables online transactions via wireless handheld devices. Reasons for significant growth in the mobile commerce arena are attributed to increased investment in funding mobile start-ups, improved infrastructure and technology, and better devices. By 2020, the Internet economy is predicted to touch USD 200 billion and will contribute 5% of GDP. Another research by eMarketer (2019) found that by 2021, sales resulting from m-commerce could account for approximately 54% of overall e-commerce sales. As per Statistica (2019), m-commerce sales in India is predicted to be valued at USD 38 billion by 2020. Although there has been significant growth in m-commerce since 2015, percentage of m-commerce is not aligned with smartphone density and mobile internet in the country.
With increased usage and inclination of users towards digital networks, mobile commerce services have witnessed high growth and acceptance in India. Government is coming up with several measures and initiatives to promote the use of digital platforms by consumers, and achieve financial inclusion goals of the Government of India (Singh, 2018). These services help consumers to avail all banking services in one app and access these services anywhere and anytime without visiting the physical bank branch (Singh et al., 2020). M-commerce services are attracting users to adopt services such as mobile payments, mobile banking, online shopping, other daily services, at their convenience (Tan et al., 2018). M-commerce in itself opens several challenges related to new value for consumers, technological infrastructure, business models and value chain (Zeeshan, Cheung, & Scheepers, 2007, Upadhyay and Jahanyan, 2016). This depends on many factors related to the overall mobile web or app experience. Unprofessionally designed mobile web experiences lead to losing customers due to navigation issues, small images, security concerns and checkout processes. Moreover, customers have concerns related to recent data breaches, data privacy and protection, cost of data usage, difficulty in adding discount codes, mobile website speed, and incorrect clicking of buttons due to wrong precision. The use of mobiles to perform shopping leads to immense dynamicity in the marketplace pertaining to products and prices. Although cost is the most agreed criteria for purchase, today’s consumer arrives at purchasing decisions with a broad range of expectations on different fronts.