As more consumers increasingly turn to their mobile phones to make purchases online, it is becoming clear that mcommerce is not a trend, but the new face of online shopping. The Retail Gazette reports that smart phone retail sales have increased 20% in the past 9 months.
This increase in mcommerce sales may have something to do with the increased efforts of online merchants to market and advertise their mobile commerce sites. According to Internet Retailer, 13% of 67 emerchants surveyed in a recent study are planning on spending more money on mobile text ad advertising this year than they did last year.
The use of text ad marketing, which includes sending content, coupons, and promotional text messages to consumers, is not new. Many large companies have used text ad marketing for years to keep their customers informed of the latest promotions and sales within their company. With the advent of mobile commerce, however, text ad marketing has taken on a new dimension.
Since smart phones allow consumers to connect to the Internet and purchase items, companies that include links and QR codes in their text ad marketing messages can market more directly to consumers who may be interested in purchasing their products, sending people from the marketing text directly to a landing page where products can be purchased.
“Mobile is really the ultimate connector for us,” Dan Fine, director of digital experience at Target, Minneapolis, MN, recently told Mobile Ecommerce Daily. “If you think about the mobile device, it’s about being wherever your consumer is and that becomes connected-and that is really powerful.”