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Social Gets More Mobile in 2013

posted on January 9, 2013

emarketer social mobileTwitter was designed as a method of delivering short, spontaneous messages to a group of friends. It worked beautifully with mobile because it allowed you to express your thoughts while things were happening.

“I just saw Brad Pitt at Starbucks.”

“These lunch truck tacos are incredible!”

And not long after, we had the ability to take and share pictures of Brad and the incredible tacos to back up on our story. Now, thanks to the rise in smartphones and tablets and the forethought of social network app makers, mobile is becoming an even bigger factor in the social media game.

As you can see from this eMarketer chart, social media users are slowly cutting down their dependence on the PC in favor of the mobile phone and tablet. There’s even been an increase in Internet-enabled TV, game console and ereader use – devices that aren’t well suited to updating Facebook.

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Consumers Don’t Trust Reviews But They’re Swayed by Them Anyway

posted on January 7, 2013

shandwick - consumer review 2Like most people who shop online, I pay attention to the reviews posted about an item before I make the decision to buy. It seems like the prudent thing to do except for one thing – reviews are notoriously inaccurate. I was looking at laptops last week and my first choice had reviews that ranged from “Excellent computer for the price” to “Piece of garbage” with little in between.

In the past week, I’ve seen a review on a book the reviewer didn’t read and I saw a DVD review where a woman gave it 1 star because she bought the wrong item. Add in all the phony, paid for positive reviews and you definitely can’t believe what you read. Still, a recent study by Weber Shandwick shows that 65% of potential consumer electronics buyers were inspired to consider a different brand after reading a review.

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Amazon Matches Record High for Holiday Shopping Satisfaction

posted on December 28, 2012

Amazon made it through another holiday season with big bucks and a whole lot of happy customers. According to ForeSee’s annual  Holiday E-Retail Satisfaction Index, Amazon matched their record high with an 88 out of 100, the best score on the chart.

26 other online retailers came in at 80 or above, which is a very impressive score. They include LLBean.com, QVC.com and Vistaprint. But for the average retailer, customer satisfaction appears to have hit a sticking point. Look at this comparison of the rise in online spending versus the rise in customer satisfaction.

foresee customer satisfaction

Makes me wonder what it is we’re missing. If Amazon is only an 88, what would be a 100 in customer’s minds? A personal shopper that does all the work for you? Free merchandise? Items made to order? Cracking the 90 spot doesn’t seem possible.

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Holiday Sales Numbers; So Far, Not So Good

posted on December 26, 2012

1409596_christmas_tree_6While shoppers battle to pick up holiday leftovers for up to 70% off, the bean counters have begun tallying the pre-Christmas dollars. So far, it’s not looking so good.

The Wall Street Journal pulled numbers from a variety of sources including the retail consulting firm Customer Growth Partners who said “2012 looks like the worst holiday-shopping season since 2009. Sales rose roughly 2.8%, after a 5.8% jump in 2011.”

Mastercard SpendingPulse looked at the entire season from October 28 through Christmas Eve and came out with only a 0.7% increase over 2011.

Things look a little better for online retailers. SpendingPulse says online holiday sales hit $48 billion which is an 8.4% increase over last year.

comScore goes further, saying they came up with a 16% increase which is only one point lower than their prediction.

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Survey Shows Some Consumers Are Prepared to Replace Their PC with a Tablet

posted on December 20, 2012

computer trashWe’re a prosperous nation with a car in every garage, a chicken in every pot and 77% of adults have a computer in their household. But according to the Center for the Digital Future, that last number may be going down, not up, as more people replace PC’s with tablets.

Given that tablets can do most of the same things as a PC, the center conducted a survey and asked this question:

When your current personal computer becomes unusable, how likely are you to replace it with another personal computer?”

  • 4% said they definitely will not replace their personal computer with another PC
  • 6% said they probably will not
  • 15% said they might or might not replace it.

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More Ho Ho Holiday Shopping Facts to Help You Finish Out the Year

posted on December 14, 2012

671280_christmas__boxThe clock is running out for holiday shoppers but RetailMeNot says that 55% of consumers are only half way done with their shopping . With that in mind, here are the results of a few surveys that could help you reel in those last minute customers.

Fast Free Delivery

We’ve heard this one before but it’s still a huge factor in online shopping, especially around the holidays. ShopRunner says:

77% of consumers would spend more online and less in stores if free 1-2 day shipping was offered.  Additionally, having more faster free shipping options would drive 65% of shoppers to procrastinate and put off making purchases longer than usual.

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December SMART Report Shows Explosive Growth in Mobile Advertising

posted on December 14, 2012

millennialmedia dec vertical explosionI know that mobile is the hottest trend in advertising, but I’m still bowled over by the growth numbers in the latest Millennial Media SMART report.

Look at the Year-Over-Year Spend. In total, 10 categories increased their spend more than 100%. Four grew more than 400% and look at automotive – 574% growth? That’s insane.

I’m also surprised to see Government Services on the list. Apparently this comes from advertising related to the recent elections.

Ranked by spending alone, Telecommunications took the top spot, just as it did 10 months out of the year. Retail and Restaurants came in second with Finance and Automotive in third and fourth place.

Looking at branded apps, the top three rearrange themselves – Finance, Automotive and then Retail.

What’s the Goal?