It comes as no surprise that mobile Web traffic is growing quickly, as smartphones and tablets continue to proliferate. For retailers, that trend is becoming ever more significant, as users abandon their desktop and laptop PCs to browse and, instead, shop while they’re sprawled on the couch or waiting for a train.
According to projections by IMB Coremetrics, 15 percent of traffic to U.S. retailers’ sites will come from non-desktop devices during this year’s November holiday season, representing more than 100 percent growth over the same period in 2010. Meanwhile, around 10 percent of sales are expected to come from mobile, too.
Despite rapid adoption from consumers, marketers have been slow to embrace mobile, owing in part to problems around standardization and targeting. That budget can be more effectively invested in desktop Web ads, they say.
Retailers don’t have that luxury, though. If 15 percent of consumers are on mobile, that means a portion of their customer base probably is, too. As a result, IBM suggests they should be investing in “hyper-personalized” shopping experiences, as well as collecting data to inform cross-channel marketing programs and promotions.
Lots of vendors are now touting mobile site optimization platforms, designed to help retailers and marketers keep pace with consumer behavior and deal with the device fragmentation that continues to confuse the landscape.
In addition, Google launched its own campaign this week designed to educate marketers and retailers – a.k.a. its search advertisers – about the importance of mobile optimized sites. Consumer engagement increases 85 percent when a site is optimized for mobile, Google said.
More in Media
Meta AI rolls out several enhancements across apps and websites with its newest Llama 3
Meta AI, which first debuted in September, also got a number of updates including ways to search for real-time information through integrations with Google and Bing.
Walmart rolls out a self-serve, supplier-driven insights connector
The retail giant paired its insights unit Luminate with Walmart Connect to help suppliers optimize for customer consumption, just in time for the holidays, explained the company’s CRO Seth Dallaire.
Research Briefing: BuzzFeed pivots business to AI media and tech as publishers increase use of AI
In this week’s Digiday+ Research Briefing, we examine BuzzFeed’s plans to pivot the business to an AI-driven tech and media company, how marketers’ use of X and ad spending has dropped dramatically, and how agency executives are fed up with Meta’s ad platform bugs and overcharges, as seen in recent data from Digiday+ Research.