Smartphone and Tablet Shopping on the ... - The Business Monthly

Consumers are using mobile devices like smartphones and tablets for shopping in rapidly increasing numbers, according to the latest Nielsen research. In fact, more than 79% of mobile device owners shop while they are on the go.

Not surprisingly, the smaller smartphones are used more often to locate a store, a sale, redeem a coupon or access a shopping list. The larger tablets, however, often are used to purchase an item online.

Although there has been a lot of press hype recently about how easy and secure it is to make a payment on a mobile device, this activity has yet to catch fire, with only about 25% of mobile users engaging in this activity. However, that number is expected to rise as better mobile payment systems come online and consumers get more comfortable with making payments with their phone or tablet.

Using your mobile device to research an item before purchasing it, however, remains a popular on-the-go activity, with two-thirds of tablet owners and more than half of smartphone users engaged in this activity.

It is definitely the year of ?three-screen marketing,? the consumer action that occurs when an advertising message from another medium triggers mobile device activity. Savvy businesses are making sure that it is easy for their customers to access and read information from their web site and other online marketing vehicles from a mobile device.

Television Still Strong

While consumers are flocking to their mobile phones to research their next purchase, one medium still rises above all others when it comes to influencing buying decisions: television.

That?s right. A recent media comparisons study revealed that TV ads are credited by consumers as the most influential when they are making a purchasing decision. People still spend significantly more time watching television each day than other media, including print publications, radio and the Internet.

This year, smart advertisers are going to use TV to motivate consumers to pick up their mobile phones or tablets and get involved in the advertiser?s promotion.

Social Media Potency

You would expect that social networks, with 61% of all adults aged 18-plus belonging to one, to be a powerful influencer of consumer decisions. Unfortunately, only 6.8% of social network members made a purchasing decision based on information they gleaned from their social networking activity.

This represents a very poor performance from the new darling of Internet marketing and the harbinger of things to come. It is probably accurate to say at this juncture that the power of social media is not all that it is cracked up to be, and in terms of its ability to brand businesses and create customers, social lacks potency.

With all this trending toward mobile usage, it isn?t surprising that businesses are searching for ways to get advertising messages onto mobile devices. QR, or ?Quick Response,? codes have been around for a long time, but it has not been until just recently that we?ve seen QR code usage on the rise. In fact, retail giant Walmart and Proctor & Gamble teamed up recently to use QR codes to encourage the on-the-go consumer to scan and buy products like Tide, Pampers and Gillette by placing oversized QR codes on bus shelters and trucks.

Given that mobile users love to use their smartphones and tablets to research products and discover discounts, this is a campaign made in mobile media heaven.

With all this emphasis on social media and mobile marketing, it is still important to remember that e-mail marketing is still the No. 1 online marketing tool and is worth the investment. It?s less expensive than mobile marketing and can contain unlimited content ? as long as you can get through all the spam filters.

Moving From ?Green? to ?Blue?

And now a few words about the ?green movement.? Recently, there has been a major move from ?green? to ?blue.? It?s about time.

Truthfully, people are tired of hearing about the green movement. Everyone is aware of eco-friendly products and services and so forth. Unfortunately, they?ve heard the term ?green? used to describe everything from napkins to manufactured clothing. This means that, in 2012, consumers are going to tune that out. (In fact, research shows they have already started to.) ?Living green,? or ?eco-friendly,? is becoming a way of life instead of a luxury.

So why should we forget about green? Because in 2012, the new word is ?blue.? Why? Because marketers are using the word ?blue? to describe products and services that are ?socially conscious.? This means more than just recycled items.

These new socially conscious products and services are not only eco-friendly, they are indicative of a major lifestyle movement that implies that social good (and no societal harm) was done in the production of these products. A good example of this is the Fair Trade movement ? paying the working poor a fair price for eco-friendly items they make.

This blue movement is not just about supporting the environment; it?s about supporting our planet and all of the people on it. It?s about consciously doing good, rather than simply trying to do no harm.

Ken Mays is president & creative director of Mays & Associates (www.ad-mays.com), a web site development, online marketing and graphic design company located in Columbia. Mays specializes in responsive web site designs that automatically adapt to mobile devices, SEO, online advertising, e-mail and social network marketing. An award-winning writer and designer, he can be reached at 410-964-9701 or at ken@ad-mays.com. Send him a Facebook friend request or follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/mays_associates.

Source: http://www.bizmonthly.com/smartphone-and-tablet-shopping-on-the-increase-tv-ads-still-top-influencer/

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