Consumers beating retailers to mobile internet

A survey conducted by Edigital Research has revealed that 41 per cent of UK retail brands expect to have a transactional mobile site or application within the next year.

The research was commissioned by the Association for Interactive Media and Entertainment, the Internet Advertising Bureau and the Interactive Media in Retail Group.

The study found that while mobile commerce is still very much at the consideration stage, the majority of retailers surveyed expect mobile commerce to be part of their main strategy within the next 12 months.

Edigital Research surveyed 140 marketing professionals from the retail, advertising and mobile service provider sectors in the UK to understand attitudes, behaviours and perceived challenges to mobile commerce.

The research highlights the need for retailers to move faster to keep up with the consumers already seeking out retail websites via their mobile phones.

However, just four out of the top 20 most frequently visited retailer websites are presently optimised for mobile, and only eight of the top 20 have any kind of mobile application for smartphones.

This means many retailers could be missing out on additional revenues from the mobile consumer traffic to their sites.

While most retailers believe their mobile revenues will increase over the next few years, currently around 63 per cent either make less than one per cent of their total revenues via mobile or do not measure their mobile revenues at all at present, citing a lack of knowledge and expertise about the mobile platform.

However, the research found that 59 per cent of the senior-level representatives from UK retail brands that took part in the survey expected their mobile revenues to increase over the next 12 months, and 94 per cent saw it as a real opportunity for their business.

The majority of UK retail brands welcomed the opportunity for further training in mobile commerce and advertising, recognising the increasing part the medium will play in the customer journey - 74 per cent of those respondents stated that they would like to receive training in this area.

Currently, one in 10 retail marketers cites themselves as a 'mobile expert', while 43 per cent believe they have a basic knowledge of the medium.

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