A new report from Juniper Research expects the amount of money spent on mobile marketing by retailers will reach $55 billion per year (£35 billion) by 2015, which is almost double the $28 billion spend expected this year.
It says that the adoption of tablet devices has created new opportunities for brands that want to increase their engagement with consumers. Advertising on tablets and smartphones is now showing strong growth, with retailers in North America and Western Europe moving their general ad spending towards online ads - and to mobile in particular. Mobile social networks such as Foursquare and Facebook are being adopted as well.
In addition, electronic coupons on mobile phones are being used by many shops to drive footfall. Other technologies including augmented reality and NFC are also being integrated into in-store retail strategies.
Yet, despite this enthusiasm for mobile technology in the retail environment, a significant number of retailers still haven’t optimised their sites for mobile devices.
Dr Windsor Holden, Research Director at Juniper Research and author of the report, said “If retailers truly want to maximise the mobile monetisation opportunity, then optimisation is critical. If you are using mobile advertising for consumer acquisition, you need to push users to a site with which they can comfortably interact; retailers that fail to respond to consumer demand will fall behind.”
[Whitepaper; report]