74% Of Online Retailers Planning Their Mobile Advertising & Mobile Marketing Strategy

June 30, 2010

Mobile quickly to become important part of Cross-Channel Marketing Efforts

Online retailers have quickly sized up the mobile opportunity and the potential it holds to engaging a mobile advertising strategy to supplement their efforts according to a new report published by Forrester. Focus is on multi-channel marketing efforts including social and mobile marketing.

Nearly three-quarters (74%) of online retailers either already have or are developing a mobile strategy, and one in five boasts having a fully-implemented mobile strategy in place already. The report forecasts $170,000 per online retailer is expected to be spent on mobile sites this year with larger retailers spending much more. This ”mobile investment is modest now, but we see that it will pick up in the future, especially among the biggest brands that have already invested significant amounts in their mobile operations,” said Sucharita Mulpuru, Vice President, Principal Analyst, Forrester Research, and lead author of the “The State of Retailing Online” report.

The survey of 109 companies provides e-business professionals with an annual industry benchmark for marketing and business investment and activities. Earlier this year, Forrester forecast U.S. online retail sales to total $173 billion in 2010. According to the report, Web retailers with mobile strategies are investing in features that support the cross-channel experience: Product and price information, store information and coupons to support the in-store experience are among the most popular features that retailers are offering consumers, the report said.

SOCIAL MARKETING
Forrester noted that search advertising will continue to command the largest portion of US online retail budgets this year, coming in at 40 percent, while email and affiliate marketing will also command large portions, the report notes. The report also found while retailers are finding value in social media marketing, the return on investment (ROI) for driving online sales remains murky. Listening to customers is the most significant objective for social tools according to respondents, with 80 percent of retailers reporting that they are pursuing social strategies to experiment and learn. And while 28 percent noted that social marketing has helped grow their business, direct sales from social tactics are not widely measured. The same can’t be said about mobile advertising, where ROI is easily measurable and obtained.

Digital marketing in general is quickly becoming centered around the art of “integrated communications,” whereby numerous channels are utilized to work off the strengths and weaknesses of one another. With mobile coming to the forefront, Online retailers need to quickly diversify their strategy to maintain relevancy.

“Mobile investment is modest now, but we see that it will pick up in the future, especially among the biggest brands that have already invested significant amounts in their mobile operations,” concluded Sucharita Mulpuru, vice president and principal analyst for Forrester Research and the lead author of the report.

Bottom Line: For most retailers as they make a surge into mobile, don’t forget that it starts with SMS and Text Messaging first, then an App to compliment the strategy. Also, read Mobile Messaging article and other mobile commerce services including interactive sms apps and device apps for iPhone, Droid, Blackberry and more.