Shopping On The Go - An Analysis Of Consumers’ Intention To Use M-Commerce In Germany And Peru

M-Commerce is steadily on the rise – mainly driven by increasing smartphone usage. This so-called “Mobile Revolution” is even considered to be of similar impact as the “Internet Revolution” in the 1990s. This study aims to analyse the level of consumers’ intention to use M-Commerce – and the factors which influence their intentions. Since the level of M-Commerce varies country by country, a comparison of two countries, a developed market (Germany) and a developing country (Peru), has been conducted. The following influencing factors have been analysed: (1) sense of comfort (including perceived ease of use, social influence, convenience, appreciation of consultative services and cash preferences), (2) involvement into E-Business (including intention to purchase online, trust in online shops and intention to use social commerce) and (3) perception of safety (attitude towards data protection, attitudes towards transaction security and safety precautions).The study could identify the most important influencing factors (i.e. perceived ease of use, social influence, convenience, trust in online stores, intention to use social commerce and the general perception of safety). In addition, it showed the major differences between Peru and Germany: Peruvians tend to be influenced by others to a larger extend than Germans, they value consultative selling higher, they have a lower intention to purchase online (but a higher social commerce usage) and data protection/transaction security plays a more important role. These findings should help corporations to better understand the still existing boundaries for M-Commerce and to be able to implement measures to remove them. It should also enable German firms to get a better understanding of the M-Commerce behaviour in Peru – and vice versa.