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Multichannel Retailers Still Ignoring Mobile

posted on April 15, 2010


I know, we’re all ready and geared up for the year that will finally be the year of the mobile. (This time, it’s for real! Maybe.) But apparently more and more consumers on the mobile Internet isn’t quite persuasive enough for retailers already pursuing multiple channels, according to research from Multichannel Merchant. eMarketer reports that in February 2010, while they were happy to explore options in SEO, social media, and conversion, four out of five multichannel retailers weren’t using any form of mobile commerce or advertising.


Mobile advertising is the most popular choice among the few that do use “m-commerce,” with an m-commerce site and an iPhone app as the next most popular. (Overlap indicates that at least 7% of retailers surveyed were doing two or more of the above activities.)

However, that may not be quite as devastating as it sounds, considering another survey by ATG. According to this survey, 87% of US Internet users never purchase products on a mobile device, and 79% never use a mobile device for product research. However, 19% of US Internet users do use a mobile device for product research at least monthly (though only 6% use it for purchases that frequently).

Still, now is a good time to begin at least thinking about mobile commerce applications for sites. Because seriously, this year is really, finally the one. This time.

Maybe.

What do you think? Are marketers who haven’t gone into m-commerce behind the curve? Or are they wise to wait?


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  • http://www.frankthinking.com Frank Reed

    Confirms what I thought would be the case even though Google has been so aggressive with their mobile efforts http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2010/04/sharing-and-mobile-provide-gre atest-challenges-for-google-engineers.html. Most marketers are professional procrastinators because of the risk of putting budget toward something that is not generating revenue today. They fear that putting something together for the future will sacrifice in the present thus they end up scurrying to play catch up.

    As a result, marketers are almost always playing catch up rather than staying ahead of the curve.

    It’s a shame but it’s not going to change either.
    .-= Frank Reed´s last blog ..Does Your Content Have Intent? =-.

  • http://www.nettknowledge.com Adam Price

    Yes, this would be true and we’ve seen the reflection of this in clients becoming much more open to alternate modalities of mobile marketing that can be “tested and measured” in a way that gets them real results.

    Now is most definitely the time to “get in” and learn as much as possible about how mobile marketing can set your positioning apart from your competition before they cotton onto it, and the savvy ones are rapidly pursuing this.

    Food for thought!

  • James

    Retailers also discovering that shopping apps that promote quality product research at comparison shopping sites like http://www.onewayshopping.com provide highly motivated customers when the click through.

  • http://www.imoose.co.uk/welcome.html James Perry

    the thing with advertising on mobiles is that people tend to use these handheld devises to get the information they require, and then log off. the home computer /laptop is where the ‘browsing’ really happens, and where people are looking to be ‘sold to’ … Apples new advertising with interactive adverts a their last iPhone 4.0 update sees to change this tho :)

  • http://JoshBoxer.com Josh Boxer

    I think a lot of marketers have been hesitant to use mobile advertising because of its infancy in the market place. I think it will become more prevalent as the years go by. What people dont realize is that more people have cellular devices with multimedia than there are people with home computers. Think about it from a global scale.

    Great post overall.
    .-= Josh Boxer´s last blog ..The Home Based Business Rules Of Engagement. =-.

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