Retailer Track: Social Media & Technology

FIREDRUM.COM

MOBILE IN THE MARKETPLACE:UTILIZING MOBILE TECHNOLOGY AS MARKETING STRATEGY

Smartphone Marketing Introduction

Smartphones are transforming the in-store shopping experience. With $25 billion spent on purchases made from phones and tablets, an increase of 81 percent from the year before, you can’t afford to miss out on a piece of the mobile pie. This session will inform you of the latest consumer shopping trends and teach you how to capitalize on those trends to grow your business.

Key Takeaways:

Understand how today’s customers are shopping and how they get their information.

Learn how to stay technologically competitive using mobile friendly websites.

Understand how to use tools to improve your online and mobile presence.

Understand how today’s customers are shopping and how they get their information.

Traditional methods are becoming less optimal:

•Internet news, not newspapers/magazines.

•Downloaded podcasts, music, online radio. Not traditional radio.

•TIVO and DVR rule while users watch less and less TV commercials.

•Traditional storefronts replaced by digital domains.

•Price comparisons easier for consumer.

Misconceptions about mobile marketing•Tablets are the same as mobile

•Only the iPhone/iPad is important

•You need a mobile website makeover

•My customers aren’t using mobile

•Mobile isn’t important in my industry

Tablets are the same as mobile•There are now 143 million smart phones in use in the U.S., and 71 million tablets.

•Mobile internet access enabled by smartphones and tablets has nearly doubled the amount of time spent online since 2010.

•Tablet users spend, on average, 50% more online than do PC users.

•Looking at conversion rates, tablet devices deliver an average 2.63% compared to just 0.99% on smartphone.

•Furthermore, the average ticket for purchases made on tablets is $125, 18% higher than the $106 smartphone average ticket.

•Smartphones and tablet computers will increase mobile Web traffic by 26 times during the next four years

Only the iPhone/iPad is important

Google’s Android platform saw a 0.8 percent increase from January 2014 to April 2014, up to 52.5 percent market share. Apple dropped by 0.2 percent to 41.4 percent, while Microsoft saw a slight increase of 0.1 percent to 3.3 percent.

IDC expects Apple's share to drop from 14.8% in 2014, to 13.7% in 2018. iOS volumes are expected to hit 184.1 million in 2014, growing to 247.4 million in 2018. Growth of 20% this year will slowly drop to year-over-year growth of 6.1% in 2018, more in line with overall market growth.

Mobile/Tablet Operating System Market ShareMay, 2014

You need a mobile website makeoverto participate

There are many ways to participate in the mobile device trend without a radical marketing change. Here are some options:

•Enable users to buy online!

•Creating mobile landing pages, rather than an entire website.

•Send social media messages that highlight products on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

•Create videos that users can download to their mobile devices that emphasize product

•Use email marketing to send regular emails to opted in participants

•Use text message marketing to provide incentive

•Use Google Adwords to target specific devices

•Make your website mobile friendly by adding text phone number and address (if applicable)

My customers aren’t using mobile

•75% of Americans admit to bringing their phone to the bathroom.

•40% of shoppers consult 3 or more channels (often while shopping) before making a purchase.

•4 out of 5 consumers use smartphones to shop.

•70% of mobile searches lead to online action within an hour.

•78% of retailers plan to invest in mobile this year.

(all stats from ConvinceandConvert.com)

Mobile isn’t important in my industry•The global toys and games industry is expected to hit the $100 billion mark by 2015, according to research from Global Industry Analysts.

•Market growth is being fuelled by video, console and computer games, with the industry also benefiting from a growing adult consumer base as this group takes a greater interest in games as a popular leisure pursuit.

• Industry players are focusing their marketing efforts on older children and adults, with small children no longer considered the industry’s main target demographic.

•4 in 10 smartphone owners will research toys and search store locations on a mobile device

•51% of tablet owners use the device to look up products

•22% of tablet owners use the device to purchase products

(all stats from Toy Info)

Consumers are shopping on mobile devices, and it’s growing

1. More than half of the U.S. population owns a smartphone (57%, according to a Pew study) and Americans are spending an average of two hours per day on their mobile devices.

2. With 8% of a person’s day spent looking a mobile screen, there is a huge opportunity for mobile marketers to find customers who are looking for local services, as well as m-commerce customers who want to make a purchase online through their smartphone or other mobile device.

3. The total number of mobile phone internet users will rise 16.5% in 2014 and maintain double-digit growth through 2016.

4. Smartphone users currently account for a majority of mobile phone users in 10 of the 22 countries included in our forecast.

From eMarketer.com

How can you reach mobile/tablet users?

1. Enhance your website to be mobile friendly.

2. Be active in introducing all of your products using social media.

3. Give incentives to users who opt in to your email marketing programs.

4. Use paid ads through Google, Twitter, Bing and Facebook.

5. Utilize remarketing campaigns in order to maximize each click.

6. Create romanticized and in depth product descriptions as to entice users to value the product.

7. Highlight products using videos and leverage that video on all other channels.

8. Create a custom application to better connect with customers.

Understand how to use tools to improve your online and mobile presence

http://quirktools.com/screenfly/

See how your website looks on various devices

http://www.mobify.com/

Mobify allows you to create a mobile version of your website through an intuitive and user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI).

http://ready.mobi/

This tool will test your site for dotMobi compliance and W3C mobileOK compliance, sets of mobile website standards that ensure an optimal and accessible mobile-site user experience. It also looks for errors and gives you a user-friendly report of any errors discovered. It's easy to use — just plug in the URL of your mobile site.

http://validator.w3.org/

This checker performs various tests on a Web Page to determine its level of mobile-friendliness.

http://ipadpeek.com/

Want to see how your website looks on an iPad?

Mobile in the Marketplace:Utilizing mobile Technology as Marketing Strategy