Top execs are starting to increase the role of smartphones and tablets in their campaigns.

According to a survey that was conducted by IBM, which involved the participation of 600 senior managers, the majority of companies plan to boost their investments into mobile marketing over the next year to 18 months.

This research showed that chief marketing officers are becoming increasingly involved in the development of these strategies.

Leaders in mobile marketing strategy – which were defined as companies that have been able to create solid smartphone and tablet based strategies – have stated that mobility has “fundamentally changed how they do business.” Furthermore, the report from IBM went on to reveal that the majority of these leaders have been experiencing “measurable returns on mobile investments”.

Mobile marketing has changed the way in which execs are participating in company strategies.

For instance, according to the research director for the IBM Institute for Business Value, Eric Lesser, in many enterprises, CIOs are still taking on an important role in the creation of mobile marketing strategies. However, among the leaders in the industry, there are additional people who are also involved in this process, which includes the chief marketing officer.

Lesser explained that “We heard about the importance of getting that voice of the customer into the hands of the engineer because of the importance of the customer experience in the mobile world.” He also pointed out that they have also been discovering “parallels between the mobile environment today and the early days of e-commerce in the late 1990s”. It was explained that in this mobile marketing, there was a considerable amount of activity and that a great deal of it was oriented toward the consumer, but that there was also a notable amount of internal fragmentation in companies.

He stated that various groups are now coming up with different applications, but that there isn’t a large amount of cross-organization coordination in terms of coming up with a coherent and solid mobile marketing strategy which not only takes what people are doing with consumers into account, but also how the channel itself “can be leveraged more effectively internally.”

Chinese mobile commerce is showing strong growth

Mobile commerce has gained a great deal of momentum in China recently. Consumers throughout the country are beginning to embrace mobile technology and smartphones and tablets are beginning to play a major role in the lives of many people. As mobile devices become more important to consumers, they are beginning to purchase products using these devices rather than shop in physical stores. A new report from the Development Research Center of the State Council, suggests that mobile payments have taken hold with many Chinese consumers.

Report highlights the growing popularity of mobile payments

According to the report, mobile payments are expected to reach $130.4 billion by the end of the year, more than five times the payment volume recorded from mobile devices throughout China in 2012. The report suggests that consumers throughout the country are showing favor for mobile commerce because of the convenience it brings to the shopping experience. Businesses are also powering the adoption of mobile commerce among consumers by offering shoppers special discounts for purchases that they make from mobile devices.

Alipay accounts for a third of all mobile payments in China

During the “Double Elevens” event, which is similar to Cyber Monday in the U.S. and elsewhere, mobile payments through Alipay, the country’s most prominent mobile commerce platform, reached more than $870 million in transactions. Alipay accounted for one third of all mobile payments made in China, an 800% increase over the mobile payments it accounted for in 2012.

Internet access is exposing more people to mobile commerce

As the mobile Internet becomes more accessible to a wider range of consumers, the growth of mobile commerce throughout China is expected to accelerate. Several Chinese technology firms have taken a strong interest in mobile commerce due to the economic promise it represents. Popular applications like Wechat are beginning to receive mobile commerce features, turning them into somewhat impromptu mobile payments platforms and further increasing the exposure that consumers are experiencing in regards to mobile commerce.