The recent freezing weather conditions have, of course, dominated the news headlines for the past few weeks, with the lowest temperature recorded so far being an icy −21.2 °C.  Having been dubbed 'the coldest winter for 50 years', many have been stuck indoors. With the Christmas shopping season in full swing, the online retail market would appear to be an obvious winner under otherwise unfortunate circumstances for business.

Retailers are reporting high ecommerce sales as snowbound customers opt to order online instead. Snow has helped keep online sales high; department store John Lewis said that sales at johnlewis.com were 62.2% up so far this week as “customers unable to travel opt to shop online”

When people are left with limited options, their faith in a particular product or service is reinforced, causing them to embrace it. The online retail market has now seen definitive mainstream adoption as have smart phones (60% of phones sold today) and with more users likely to connect to the internet via mobile devices than desktop PCs within five years, the natural successor is m-commerce.

Retailers are seeing a quick uptake in the adoption of mobile services - fashion shopping site ShopStyle.co.uk has seen a 920% increase in use of its free iPhone app by those that have downloaded it over this time last year and 200% increase compared to this time last month. Research shows that between 10 and 20% of UK shoppers will be buying at least some of their Christmas shopping using mobile. Tesco predicts 10%, Halfords 13% and Tamar 19%.

 
Tesco's mobile shopping app (above), is an ideal brand butler for those with busy lifestyles, allowing them to shop on the go. With the recent weather conditions in mind, delivery services not only offer convenience but also contribute to a more 'green' solution for retail.  Particularly at this time of year, supermarkets and city centres are flooded with thousands of cars each day, yet CO2 emissions could be significantly decreased as these services are consolidated.

As augmented reality apps enjoy simultaneous progression in market growth, the two are becoming inevitably linked. In May 2010 MGM Mirage launched an app fusing augmented reality with m-commerce and Total Immersion recently unveiled an augmented reality app for iPhone 4 with facial tracking features that allow the user to try on and purchase glasses directly from their mobile.

As noted in the Juniper Research's top 10 wireless predictions for the coming year, the potential to geo-tag products or locations with brand/campaign-specific information adds to the user-friendly and social element of the online shopping experience. As we near the end of 2010, a raft of major retailers and brands (including eBay and H&M) are releasing apps with an AR element and with the potential to share on social media channels, retrieve discounts and shop whilst going about the day. There is a great deal of appeal unravelling.

  
Above - Ebay's Mobile Marketplace Elay on mobile augmented reality platform Layar, allows geo-relevant mobile shopping.

With the current climate restricting people's current ability to shop and with the number of online shoppers 'going mobile' increasing, the app market is readying itself an influx of AR-enabled m-commerce experiences. Such applications promise to eliminate the boundaries currently restricting the online shopping experience, saving us time and maximising our options as people inevitably adapt to mobile retail.