Wed, 07/28/2010 – 04:36 by A recent Research In Motion-Forbes
survey of 305 executives at leading U.S. retailers with $100 million or more in annual revenues showed they were mostly bullish on mobile and moving quickly to adopt it as a key customer retention/loyalty and marketing channel. The chief motivation for “going mobile” was the recognition of customer adoption of mobile devices and the desire to capture a “first mover advantage.”
Sixty-three percent of survey respondents indicated they were already in market with some form of a mobile program: “in pilot programs” (39%) or “expanding rapidly” (24%). Ten percent said they had “already widely implemented” mobile and only 7% said they “did not plan to pursue,” while 20% responded that mobile was currently “under evaluation.”
Of those using mobile 61% said their efforts were “somewhat integrated” with their other maketing/advertising channels. Thirteen percent said their mobile intiatives were “completely integrated,” while 17% reported they were “not at all integrated.”
Which of the following statements is closest to your company’s attitude/approach towards development of a mobile channel? 
What mobile tactics are you using today—and plan to be using in one year? 
What are the main factors that drive your mobile channel efforts? 
How are your investments in the mobile channel performing to date? 
Source: Forbes-RIM (n=305, 4/10) Recent
US consumer survey data from Insight Express found that 82% of respondents were using their mobile devices in the store, while shopping.
Source: Insight Express, n=1,300 (Q2, 2010) A considerable number of retailers (47% in the Forbes survey) are clearly recognizing how consumers are interacting with mobile devices and responding rationally. And another contingent (24%) is responding to competition, following those early adopter-retailers into mobile.
Here’s what the Forbes survey revealed were the top mobile spending priorities:
- Mobile website — 30%
- Mobile redemption/coupons/barcodes — 29%
- Mobile advertising (display) — 27%
- Downloadable applications — 25%
- Database development/obtaining customer opt-in — 25%
- Proximity marketing (in-store recognition/interaction on an opt-in basis) — 23%
- SMS: two-way communication — 16%
- SMS: outbound/informational — 14%
The bulk of retailers were spending less than $10 million annually on mobile, with the largest single group (34%) spending under $1 million. However 29% were spending at least $11 million and, of that group, 9% were spending $25 million or more. For 66% of respondents mobile represented 10% or less of their total marketing budgets but they expected mobile spending to grow as a percentage of their overall budgets in the next several years.
The “big picture” that emerges from this survey is that retailers so far see mobile primarily as a customer service and retention/loyalty channel and not as much as a new customer acquisition channel.
