New research indicates that a surprisingly large number of small businesses do not have plans to optimize their website for mobile in the near future. While it may not be expected, this certainly indicates an area of opportunity for savvy small businesses that are embracing the trends and building mobile web sites for their business.
TransFirst and ControlScan’s new report titled “Small Merchants and Mobile Payments: 2013 Survey on Technology Awareness and Adoption”, indicates that almost half (49 percent) of ecommerce merchants are aware that their websites are not optimized for mobile environments and that 17 percent didn’t know whether or not their websites are optimized for mobile or not.
This is where the opportunity comes in. While consumers have embraced mobile and the use of the mobile web, we see that just 31 percent of multi-channel businesses have a mobile web site for their business. Unexpectedly, only 37 percent of small businesses are either in the process of creating mobile web sites (15 percent) or plan to create a mobile web site in the next year (22 percent). The rest have no plans to take advantage of this rapidly growing market. 21 percent are ‘somewhat interested’ in mobile optimization and plan to maybe do something within the next couple years, 29 percent have no plans to optimize in the foreseeable future and the final 13 percent are unsure.
“Business owners who aren’t planning on creating a mobile optimized web site need to get there” said Kimber Johnson, managing director at Vanity Point. “Small businesses need to embrace these trends and guide their business towards growth and increased revenue.”
Clearly mobile optimized web sites offer huge opportunities since consumers have been so quick to embrace their use and small businesses have struggled to adopt them. Businesses willing to give the customers what they want will reap the rewards.
According to research, native mobile apps are set to become the focus of mobile marketing efforts for retail businesses.
According to recent research by Flurry, users are spending a great deal more of their time with mobile devices interacting with apps than with the mobile web (by a 4 to 1 margin). This study was closely followed by a second study with research by Artisan that indicates that retail executives have put a priority on investing in native mobile apps as a top item for 2013.
Artisan’s survey of 200 retail marketing execs found that almost 75% strongly agree or agree that investing in a native mobile apps is one of their top three priorities for this year. Additionally, about 66% of these execs believe that investment in native apps is a better bet than investment in mobile web sites and 71% believe that native mobile apps will become the number 1 consumer touch point during the upcoming years.
Clearly native mobile apps are poised to step even more into the spotlight than they have already been in the past few years and we are seeing the market develop in productive ways as the industry matures.
Mobile commerce isn’t the up and coming thing to be on the look at for and it certainly isn’t an opportunity for savvy business people any more. Mobile commerce has become a full fledged reality and in 2013 if you are not competing in this market space you are running a serious risk to being left behind.
Just this week, Intela, a key player in database marketing services, released a new report offering great insight into the growth of mobile commerce with the mobile web and mobile applications. It turns out that as of right now almost half of all Americans (44%) and 40% of UK consumers are likely to make purchases via mobile device.
Another key finding included in their report highlight the fact that email that has been optimized for mobile devices is key trigger for smart brands to cue smartphone owners to make purchases via the mobile applications or mobile web sites on their mobile phones. In fact approximately one third (36%) of Americans are finding this very effective.
Along with the growth of mobile commerce, we are seeing changing patterns in how consumers are paying for goods. Younger consumers seem prone to using NFC payment systems within focus groups of shoppers under the age of 40 (according to Mercator Advisory Group) and mobile payment options are resonating with this demographic very strongly.
Business mobile applications can no longer stand on the sidelines and be simply informative. Mobile consumers are ready to buy via their mobile devices and mobile applications should be designed to accommodate this trend. Additionally, mobile applications need to be developed to utilize mobile payment options and be attune to usage patterns with regards to their demographic.