Retailers Embracing Mobile Commerce, Though Unevenly

A survey of 110 retailers conducted by Lauren Freedman and the  e-tailing group indicates that digital marketing spend will grow in 2012 across the board. But there are important changes brewing, the survey suggests.  In the coming year, retailers said they may shift those priorities to allocate more spending to search engine optimization, natural search, social strategies (blogs, social networks), email, and re-targeting or behavioral marketing.





Though it seems not to have been a specific question for this particular survey, use of mobile channels also is growing, virtually all studies suggest.  


 In the United States alone, 91 percent of the population owns a cell phone according to Cellular News. A  consumer survey by Sterling Commerce confirms retailer interest in unifying mobile and other channels.  


In spite of these staggering statistics, according to the e-tailing group’s 9^thAnnual Merchant Survey, 73 percent of those surveyed “are not engaging shoppers in mobile in any way.” Still, we seem to be very early in development of mobile channels. Were it comes to "digital" marketing, other channels still seem to be getting most of the attention, at the moment.


 


Regarding revenue generation, merchants surveyed said that they expect top-performing channels will be SEO (31 percent), mobile (m-commerce, iPads, mobile application 30 percent) email (22 percent), paid search (22 percent) and social media (14 percent). Retailer Digital Marketing Spend to Increase Across All Channels in 2012