Mobile commerce may be generating a lot of buzz, but according to the Direct Response Forum it's not generating a lot of revenue – just yet. The DRF, the industry organization that represents card-not-present merchants like catalogs and online retailers, released its Q1 Merchant Survey last week showing that a majority of respondents (63 percent) said mobile devices accounted for only 2 percent of their sales. Only 17 percent said mobile sales are more than 10 percent.

Bolstering the argument that merchants aren't as concerned with mobile commerce as analysts and tech writers would like to believe, the DRF's survey showed m-commerce isn't even a top area of focus in 2012 for leading CNP merchants. According to the survey general credit/debit processing issues, fees, and implementing international payment strategies are of more immediate concern.

"It's important to realize that mobile commerce is in its infancy while there are larger opportunities for CNP merchants to capitalize on now including international payment strategies and reduced fees which can contribute larger and more immediate returns on investment for their organizations," said DRF Executive Chair Chantal Gaspie in a statement. "Mobile commerce will be important but the volume is just not there yet to deploy resources away from other important initiatives."

Respondents to the survey said that 17 percent of shoppers who do use mobile to buy products are new customers, while 17 percent said mobile customers are simply existing customers migrating to the new channel. However, the DRF said only 54 percent of respondents said they could even determine which customers were new versus returning customers, indicating that internal systems may not be able to give retailers visibility into mobile commerce data.

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