New research has highlighted the important role that mobile commerce is likely to play in the coming years for small to medium-sized enterprises (SME) selling things online and using courier services.

Onepoll carried out a survey on behalf of MoPowered which found that nearly nine out of ten SME retailers see the mobile sector as crucial for obtaining new business.

However, three-quarters (76 per cent) of these firms do not yet have a website that is optimised for mobile browsing.

Costs, a lack of resources and concerns over security were among the reasons given for not setting up a dedicated platform for m-commerce.

The poll of senior managers from small to medium-sized retailers also revealed a general consensus that sales completed via mobile devices are likely to increase by a third in the next five years.

Dominic Keen, chief executive of MoPowered, a provider of m-commerce solutions, said the respondents to the survey were correct to think that this particular area is essential for their future development and success.

He added: "We have created a mobile commerce platform to enable SMEs to quickly, easily and cost effectively integrate on to the channel.

"Research from Google shows that 15 per cent of all online traffic is now coming through mobile. This means that not having a mobile-optimised site is equivalent to shutting your online store for one day every week."

As well as looking at the business side of the sector, the study asked respondents about their experiences on the consumer side of mobile shopping, discovering that over a quarter (27 per cent) had abandoned a purchase because the site they were using was not tailored for mobile browsing.

Furthermore, four out of five (79 per cent) said internet platforms that were not designed for m-commerce were slow and difficult to navigate.

Author:  Adrian Medland