Category: Mobile Marketing

Although the smartphone and tablet based shopping and advertising experience remains small, it is growing fast.

Mobile marketing and commerce are already growing at an explosive rate, but they remain a small fraction of the overall online space, except when it comes to couponing, which is clearly reaching mainstream levels.

This technique for advertising is driving revenues and is sending foot traffic back into stores.

Trends in mobile marketing are developing extremely fast, as end of year totals look nothing like what they had been at the beginning of the same year. Now, with the holiday shopping season once again approaching, retailers are looking to take advantage of the smartphone and tablet marketplace, particularly in areas that have become the most popular. That easily includes couponing.

A recent BI Intelligence report revealed that coupons, as well as catalogs, are leading the way in mobile marketing.

The report showed that among grocery stores, 41 percent are using mobile marketing couponing techniques, with the same percentage of department stores offering coupons for smartphone and tablet users, as well. Thirty nine percent of clothing stores were doing so, while electronics stores were using mobile coupons in only 29 percent of the cases (which is surprising, considering that they often sell those devices and gadgets in the first place). Finally, 26 percent of mass merchandisers were found to take part in this technique.

The role of coupons in mobile marketing is not only becoming increasingly popular, but the report has indicated that its importance is growing, as well, and that it will continue to do so. This is because the number of American smartphone owners who use these coupons has exploded. In 2010, 7.4 million Americans were using them, and by the end of last year, a tremendous 29.5 million Americans reported using them. By the year 2014’s end, the report has predicted that this will have continued to skyrocket and will reach 47.1 million people in the United States, alone.

Moreover, the report also indicated that among the mobile marketing coupons that were distributed, there was a far greater redemption rate over this channel than there had been at the same time with print coupons.

The world is changing and you should be focusing a lot of your energy on the mobile market.

If the thought hasn’t even crossed your mind yet you should be really worried. Luckily it’s not too late, but you have to get in there quick because you’re leaving money on the table. I want to show you how big an opportunity you have in front of you.

Accessing the web

Do you remember when you had to use a dial-up connection to access the internet from the large computer sitting in your room? After a few years laptops and broadband came along, but now we can access the internet from a small device in our pocket. There is already a huge proportion of the population using their phone to go online on a daily basis.

Mobile spending spree

Just because people access the internet from their smartphone doesn’t necessarily mean they will actually buy anything from such a small handset. You would be forgiven for thinking people run home to do all their shopping on their PC or laptop, but they don’t which is great for you. A lot of people have purchased something using their phone.

Black Friday shopping

Black Friday gets a lot of businesses excited because everyone tries their hardest to throw all their money away. In 2012 people spent over 50 billion dollars, but have you any idea what percentage of those purchases were completed on a mobile device? Around 25% of buyers used a mobile device, but this includes tablets as well as mobile phones.

The future is bright

If you thought the numbers were in your favor at the moment you should wait a few years because it’s going to get even better. Even more people are going to start feeling safe enough to enter their credit card details on their phone, plus think about all the people who are going to buy a smartphone for the very first time.

Spontaneous shopping

The reason you need to prepare yourself for a mobile boom is because people are much more likely to buy things spontaneously when they’re on their phone. When someone is sitting at a PC they have time to think about what they’re doing. When they have a phone in their hand they will come across something and it’s much easier for them to click on the buy-now button.

The tablet revolution

We’ve touched on tablets already, but you’re probably more excited about smartphones because so many people are walking around with one. I wouldn’t discount tablets just yet because more and more people are buying them every day. In fact, it’s estimated one in three US internet users will own one within the next few years.

Get ready to move

I hope you now realize it’s vital you start concentrating on mobile because it’s going to make you a lot of money in the future. You don’t want to be chasing everyone in a few years’ time, because it’s guaranteed all the main players will be ready and waiting for the good times to roll in.

Author Byline:

The author of this post, Nancy Baker, is a part of the team at Want Buy Let Buy, an online electronics shop that specializes in mobile phone accessories. She has a keen interest in Apple products and enjoys sharing her tips and thoughts via blogging. You can also follow her on Twitter @Nancy Baker.

Summary

I’ve talked about why people need to concentrate on the mobile market because if they don’t they’ll be leaving a huge amount of money on the table.