KPMG: Mobile Technology to Decide High Street 'Battle'

KPMG have this week published research which indicates that retailers worldwide are beginning to come round to the view that effective implementation of mobile technology is eclipsing more traditional ways of generating business.

The research, compiled following a survey of 350 senior financial officers of global retailers and consumer brands, also indicates that a decrease in annual revenue is widely expected, with opinion varying from country to country on how far mobile technology can help to maximise sales.

The U.K. respondents appear to be the least enthused about the ability of mobile technology to deliver a much-needed boost to retail sales, with only 36% of the Britons surveyed stating that yes; the technology will drastically help improve sales over the next two years - compared with 46% in Germany, 44% in America, and 50% in India. 

Although it does indicate a lukewarm leaning towards the benefits of mobile transactions, those percentages seem incredibly low. Especially when considering further insight by KPMG published in September last year, which indicated that over 90% of financial services executives believed mobile payments were 'yet to go mainstream'. This is in spite of the fact that an estimated $3 billion worth of transactions were processed via mobiles last year - four times the amount for 2010.

What figures, then, can we expect when mobile transactions really take off? We could be looking at astronomical numbers - and it's then even more alarming to consider that less than four out of ten retail CFOs in this country remain, at present, unconvinced of its merits. Perhaps it's down to an inherent mistrust of new technologies, and 'Big Brother' paranoia thwarting appropriate progress in the fusion between the old and the new.

Do we, then, continue with the slow progression towards (and begrudging acceptance of) a coalescence of modern technology and traditional retail values; or do we do away with the myopia, and give mobile technology the chance it deserves in the immediate future to help resurrect a broken retail market?

I'd rather hope that more than 36% of retailers, agents and landlords in the U.K. would choose the latter.