Ad Age Insights' Mobile Marketing quarterly series explores how
location-based services and couponing can enhance mobile marketing,
how to use the metrics currently available to figure out a mobile
strategy and best strategies for mobile commerce. Buy the series,
or just one of the issues, at
AdAge.com/whitepapers.
Here are three marketer strategies, from Ad Age Insights'
fourth-quarter Mobile Marketing report, for mobile commerce.
Optimize for mobile web
More consumers seek out a retail brand via the mobile web than via
apps. Google's research shows that the number of queries via mobile
rose nearly three times from 2009 to 2011 and continues to expand;
mobile search is now 30% of all search activity, which Deep Focus's
Ian Shafer identifies as a watershed for mobile commerce. But
despite the growth of mobile search, 79% of Google's largest
advertisers still did not have a mobile-optimized site.
Have a 'scan and scram' strategy
People walk into stores ready to scan barcodes and check local
retail availability and then go buy elsewhere. So what are
retailers doing about these scan-and-scram shoppers? Electronics
retailer Fry's will match any price a consumer shows a staffer on
their phones, while Lowe's is deploying 42,000 iPhones to staffers
to assist with scanning for more information and couponing.
In October, Sears Holdings
rolled out iPads and iPod Touch devices to almost 450 Sears and
Kmart stores. Sales associates will use the devices to help
customers check inventory, order products online and access product
information and videos. Sears is also offering free Wi-Fi at
various locations, so customers can shop at Sears.com and compare
prices. Target
encourages bar- code scanning; its iPhone and Android applications
offer built-in scanner functionality.
Own the couch
Tablets are proving to be the driver of couch commerce, turning the
chaos of the web into a more intuitive, consumer-friendly shopping
experience. Retailers should put their app efforts here and think
more catalog than web: Beautiful images and lifestyle information
as it relates to the products work here, as consumers swipe and
zoom their way to the purchase. Target has made it possible for
tablet users to drag and drop items directly into an online
shopping cart from electronic versions of its circular. Also,
prepare for the HTML5 future with a tablet-initiated web
experience.