Third Wave Fashion // FEBRUARY 2014 // THE GLOBAL ISSUE | Page 21

SPECIAL FEATURE
// INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE

Mobile
First
6 billion phones on a
planet of 7 billion people
MORE iPhones than babies
3 times that with android
THERE ARE MORE IPHONES THAN

> Toilets (Globally)
> Electricity (Africa)

Mobile matters
–a lot. In 2014, the percentage of traffic
and total online orders placed via mobile
devices are set to increase in virtually
every market worldwide.
For half of the people on the planet,
mobile phones represent their primary (or
only) way to access the internet, making
mobile commerce an enormous factor in
the growth of online commerce.
And it’s not just people shopping on their
phones: they’re also shopping with them,
using their mobile devices as surrogate
POS systems and even as an alternative to
credit cards. In countries like India,

China, and Brazil, a lack of POS terminals
and the infrastructure to support them
has turned offline interactions into online
transactions.
e same is true for other types of
essential infrastructure as well; in many
countries where governments are unable
to provide for their citizens basic needs,
mobile carriers are connecting people to
the web–and each other.

Further reading:
“US E-Commerce Growth Slows, As
International E-Commerce Growth
Booms, Especially In Russia, Middle
East, Australia”
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