News

Study finds retailers shifting biggest share of marketing budgets to mobile

April 8, 2014

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 new study by Yes Lifecycle Marketing.

In Q4 of 2013, Yes Lifecycle Marketing surveyed 100 retail executives on their budget and technology priorities. The study found that 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 found that the number of retailers using mobile POS is expected to triple by 2018. So far, one-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.

Almost one-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, according to Yes, 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.

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 that 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 one-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; and
• geo-targeting has been implemented by nearly one-third of marketers, while 46 percent will move toward location-based marketing by 2018.