M-commerce stealing business from e-commerce?

Is mobile commerce increasing companies' sales, or is it cannibalizing their e-commerce business?

That was one of the discussions held at MeritDirect's Business Mailer's Co-Op and Interactive Marketing Conference on July 15 in White Plains, NY. The sentiment shared by those speaking was that m-commerce isn't having much of an impact today but that companies still should be moving in that direction.

“We don't consider that to be business that we wouldn't have gotten if we weren't mobile-ready,” said Kevin Lyons-Tarr, president of 4imprint, which sells personalized items such as office supplies, clothing and drinkware. “That will probably change over time.”

Said Brad Darooge, CEO of Baudville, which sells recognition gifts and awards: “It probably is cannibalizing some of what we're doing. But we would rather cannibalize ourselves than let someone else do it.”