Mobile marketing boosts in-store sales

A study has shown that 55 percent of retailers feel that smartphones are sending shoppers into stores.

A new survey conducted by RSR Research has revealed that brick and mortar retailers don’t necessarily feel that smartphones are working against them, as mobile marketing is working effectively to send foot traffic back into their shops.

This has also taken some of the edge off the threat that some have felt from e-commerce giants.

The responses to the survey showed that 55 percent of businesses feel that mobile marketing is sending more consumers into their stores in order to make purchases there, in person. At the same time, they also stated that this new advertising channel could make things more challenging for them along the way, if it is to grow into a larger part of doing business. So far, the largest challenge that it presents is actually the capability for stepping into mobile, in addition to actually wanting to boost online traffic while meeting the demands of customers that are associated with making those changes.

The survey results also pointed out that there are differing opinions on mobile marketing among businesses.

The survey pointed out that there are two different categories of businesses, which they called “laggards” and “winners”. They explained that, depending on the type of business, the companies are likely to have different priorities with regards to the use of mobile advertising. The report on the survey explained that the companies that are in the “laggards” category, half feel that not knowing the expectations of the consumer in terms of smartphone ads could be the biggest challenge. Comparatively, only 38 percent in the “winners” category felt the same way.

Moreover, among the “winners”, 44 percent were focused on engaging with different groups of consumers in order to push sales upward. Furthermore, 21 percent felt that it was possible that mobile technology could be moving too fast to keep up. Equally, among the “laggards”, 20 percent said that they wanted to engage with customer groups and 0 percent felt that tech was moving too rapidly.

Both groups of businesses felt that mobile marketing was becoming an increasingly important tool and that it would only rise in its popularity over time.