BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - October 13, 2010) - Between August and September 2010, Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks Company (
Mobile Retail Is a Reality: The Increasing Mobility of Consumers Has Retailers Engaged, advancements in consumer mobility (61%) and customer expectations for digital and personalized access to retail product information, price and feature comparisons, and offer consumption needs (49%) are the driving forces behind the adoption of mobile retail.
The advancement of mobile technology and the pervasiveness of smarter and commerce-ready mobile devices among customers are the top two pressures driving adoption and use of mobile retail or mobile channel initiatives. "The mobile channel is a necessary customer touch point that retailers will need to embrace as more customers turn to anytime anywhere shopping," says Sahir Anand, Vice-President and Principal Analyst, Retail and Banking and Chief Author of the report.
Secondly, for retailers, the move towards mobile is a shift in traditional channel management and marketing expenditure. Aberdeen data shows that retailers with an online and mobile channel have had to adjust their marketing-mix strategy to reflect the changed channel behaviors based on customer preferences. Data from this report indicates that currently, on average, retailers are dedicating 41% of their annual marketing spending towards the digital channels (online 34% and mobile 7%). It is important to note that for more than a fifth of retailers (22%), the second highest strategic action related to mobile retail is the increase in mobile marketing initiatives as a percentage of the overall marketing mix. Therefore, the clout of mobile within the overall retail marketing spend is on the rise.
Currently, there are three major elements of the mobile retail experience that are top-of-mind for retailers. As expected, mobile web (which features online channel sections and categories of products for information gathering, product demo, and feature comparisons) is the top component of a mobile retail technology platform strategy for almost half (49%) of retailers surveyed. The second highest preference for 43% of retailers is mobile coupon targeting and delivery which can be tied into customer loyalty programs. The third most popular component of a mobile retail technology strategy is smart phone-platform specific mobile retail applications for iPhone, Windows Mobile, Android or Blackberry smart phone devices (37%). These applications provide consumers with new brand experiences with advanced graphic interface and touch-screen features to browse, compare, and even order products. An ideal mobile retail platform must consist of standards-based mobile marketing, product catalog, search, compare, order, and payment experience. Mobile retailing needs the 'readily-usable and mass market-ready' standards for widespread adoption by consumers and enterprises alike.
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