Retailers are rapidly adopting mobile marketing and investing more in social media, according to a recent survey of 68 retailers prepared by Forrester Research for Shop.org, the e-commerce division of the National Retail Federation.
The report estimates 91 percent of retailers currently have a mobile strategy in place or in development, up from 74 percent a year ago. Additionally, 72 percent said they will increase their spending on social networks this year over last year.
Retailers reported that 21 percent of all mobile traffic is coming from tablets; amazing considering the iPad was launched barely a year ago. Still, the overall amount of mobile traffic and revenue has not increased dramatically, suggesting that investment levels in site optimization may still be inadequate. For example, 48 percent of retailers report having a mobile-optimized website; 35 percent have deployed an iPhone app; and 15 percent offer an Android app and an iPad app, respectively. Challenges for retailers include differentiating the consumer experience on a tablet versus a smartphone and figuring out features and functionality in dueling app/mobile Web ecosystems.
“After spending the last few years learning how to capitalize on social media and new mobile technologies, one of retailers main focuses right now seems to be leveraging the tremendous popularity of tablet devices, such as the iPad,” said Shop.org Head of Research Fiona Swerdlow.
Social networks ranked fourth on the list of successful customer acquisition sources, up significantly from last year. Yet the ROI associated with social remains muddy: 62 percent of retailers said the returns on social marketing strategies are unclear, and nearly the same percentage said the primary ROI from social marketing is listening to – and gaining a better understanding of – customers.
