Retailers Shifting Biggest Share Of Budgets To Mobile Marketing

Only Half of Retailers Expect Brick-and-Mortar Stores to be the Top Marketing Budget Priority by 2018

The number of retailers who expect mobile to be their top marketing priority will more than quadruple over the next five years, according to a study by Yes Lifecycle Marketing.

In Q4 of 2013, multichannel marketing solutions provider, Yes Lifecycle Marketing, surveyed 100 retail executives on their budget and technology priorities. The study found just 3 percent of retail executives said mobile marketing received the largest percentage of their marketing budgets in 2013, but this number will jump to 13 percent by 2018. The study also identified the number of retailers using mobile POS is expected to triple by 2018. So far, a quarter of retailers have implemented mobile POS (26 percent), with another 51 percent expecting to implement before 2018 in an effort to bring the in-store and mobile experience together.

Additionally, almost a third of retailers expect to dedicate the largest portion of their marketing budgets to their websites in five years, and 5 percent anticipate spending the most on social media. This shift in marketing spend will come at the expense of brick-and-mortar stores, with only half of retailers saying their physical locations will receive the greatest share of their marketing dollars in five years, down from 72 percent of current retailers surveyed.

”The future emphasis on mobile, web and social demonstrates the consumer need for marketers to seamlessly integrate online and offline shopping experiences,” said Michael Fisher, president Yes Lifecycle Marketing. “This move underscores retailers’ commitment to marketing across all channels.”

Nonetheless, despite the focus on multiple channels, the survey found that marketers are currently struggling to integrate these marketing strategies. Notably, 63 percent of retailers admitted they do not present a consistent message across channels, with 13 percent marketing in each channel separately, and half coordinating messages across only some channels.

The study also provided insights into how retailers are embracing technology:

• Less than one quarter (24 percent) of retailers have deployed purchasing directly through social channels, but 46 percent plan to do so by 2018.
• Nearly a third of retailers have implemented free in-store Wi-Fi; while 40 percent have no plans to offer the service.
• 29 percent have deployed in-app purchasing, and 45 percent intend to by 2018.
• Geo-targeting has been implemented by nearly a third of marketers, with 46 percent will move toward location-based marketing by 2018.

Written in conjunction with Retail Touchpoints, the full study, “Breaking Through Customer Engagement Barriers with Innovative Marketing and Technologies,” is available for complimentary download here.

About Yes Lifecycle Marketing
Yes Lifecycle Marketing is a solution provider that brings together multichannel marketing platforms and data, with creative and strategy services honed on the optimization of delivering relevant marketing messages. This gives marketers the ability to source best-of-breed technology and creative and strategy services from a single vendor at a cost-effective price point. For more information, visit www.yeslifecyclemarketing.com.