For Retailers, Mobile Strategy is Not Easy

"What to do about mobile" is no easy question for most retailers to answer. There is widespread agreement that consumers of business and consumer products and services use their mobile devices to conduct research, and increasingly, to make purchases.

Some 86 percent of Apple iOS device owners research products and services on their mobile phone and 69 percent make purchases, compared with 76 percent  and 53 percent, respectively, for Android users, 57 percent and 35 percent  for BlackBerry users, and 47 percent and 32 percent for Windows users, respectively,  according to a Forrester Research survey of more than 53,400 North American respondents.

But Forrester Research analyst Julie A. Ask points out that the majority of firms have less than $500,000 to spend annually on mobile services, barely enough for a simple app and mobile-optimized website. "A few years from now, it will take millions, if not tens of millions, and years to catch up,  if they even can," says Ask.