Mobile shopping: a classification framework and literature review

The purpose of this paper is to classify and organize the accumulated knowledge about mobile shopping (m-shopping) as revealed in the present literature regarding retail. A classification framework has been applied, consisting of three categories: online distribution channels, advanced technology for in-store shopping, and technology perspectives.

A term-based search method was applied in which the literature was restricted to peer-reviewed articles in English-language journals of a certain date and specific online databases. Finally, 81 peer-reviewed articles, published between 2000 and 2012 around the world, were taken into account.

Considering the retail environment, the interest in m-shopping for both advanced technology for in-store shopping and for the online distribution channel has increased continuously over the last decade. Moreover, while studies have mostly explored the consumers’ acceptance and reactions to m-shopping themes, the technology perspective is still being researched.

Due to the selected term-based search method, the number of identified publications is limited. Additionally, the selected framework requires a corresponding assignment to an explicitly stated topic, which was not always possible.

As far as the author knows, this paper provides the first systematic review of m-shopping literature, which not only helps to organize retail-based literature, but also investigates significant gaps on this topic, thus facilitating future research.