Transforming Commerce to M-Commerce

A case study of transforming a functioning business model to a mobile context

JOSEF NORLIN

Abstract

Today many companies in regular commerce strive to join the m-commerce business. This is a case study of such a company, namely Dreamstar. They plan to transform their business of selling physical discount booklets to a mobile context. To examine the viability of such a business model all Dreamstar’s partners were presented with an app prototype and by using usability-centered methods together with an evaluation framework their opinions and thoughts were documented through observations and interviews. The result was that end customers liked the idea but the price used in regular commerce was more questioned when used in a mobile context. The distribution partners, who was thought to be the sport club members was in most cases the sport club member’s mothers, which according to their children were not ready for a transformation to m-commerce. Most keen on the transformation were therefore the companies advertising in the physical booklet, which saw the value of being presented in an app instead of a physical booklet. To create a viable solution for Dreamstar’s planned transformation, some of the improvements discussed were regarding the interface, the return of investments for the end customers as well as the exclusion of the sport clubs as a distribution partner. The suggested solution was, since there is no competition of free discount apps in Dreamstar’s cities, to introduce the m-commerce business model alongside the existing one. That way the cash bringing business model used today would not be challenged, while new advantages to commerce and future m-commerce competition are being made by expanding Dreamstar’s offer. An overall conclusion is that transforming commerce to m-commerce might not always be such a faultless success, as it may seem. And to help future studies to evaluate if a transformation from commerce to m-commerce would be viable, two additional areas to the used evaluation framework are suggested, which are the implementation and competition.