Industry Trends
Mobile coupon industry will be worth $46 billion by 2016, analysts say
Source: BGR Todd Haselton | Nov 2nd, 2011 at 02:40PM
A recent report from Juniper Research suggests that the mobile coupon market will be worth $46 billion by 2015, a large jump from the $5.6 billion projected for the industry this year. Google Offers, a feature of the NFC-based Google Wallet mobile payment system, will be one catalyst for the growth. “Mobile coupons are going mainstream,” Juniper Research analyst David Snow said. “Cost effective mobile coupon campaigns are now within the reach of smaller retailers providing them with an easy way to drive profitable footfall and build customer loyalty. To ignore the potential of mobile coupons would be to ignore the future of mobile commerce.” A quick search of the iTunes App Store revealed dozens of applications for iOS devices, including apps from Coupons.com, GroupOn, Cellfire, Coupon Clipper and more, but there are also applications such as FourSquare that provide special offers for mobile users. Snow’s comments, which also suggest an opt-in approach could be more beneficial for retailers, complement a recent report from Retrevo that claimed retail stores are failing shoppers by not providing them with enough incentives to shop in-store instead of online. Read on for the full press release from Juniper Research.
Mobile Coupon Redemption Values to Exceed $43bn globally by 2016, Driven by Better Targeting and Mobile Apps
Hampshire, UK – 1st November 2011: A new report from Juniper Research has found that the total redemption value of mobile coupons will exceed $43 billion globally by 2016 as coupons are increasingly delivered by mobile apps. This is an eightfold increase from $5.4bn in value to be redeemed this year.
Pivotal Role of M Coupons
The report found that mobile coupons, sitting at the intersection of advertisements, payments and loyalty schemes is a key catalyst for the mobile commerce market, especially for bricks-and-mortar retailers and are now appearing as an integral part of almost every new mobile wallet launch.
Increasingly innovative targeting techniques are also being used to deliver mobile coupons to users not just based on location, but also with a holistic knowledge of the consumer’s lifestyle, work patterns and real-time activity extending even to social networking and gaming opportunities.
The Importance of Opting-In
The report stressed, however, the importance of users freely “opting-in” to mobile coupon schemes and not being subjected to indiscriminate and unwanted promotions. Handled properly, the mobile coupon builds customer loyalty as the user enters into a permission-based exchange of information with the brand, merchant or retailer, so that only relevant coupons are received.
According to report author David Snow, “Mobile coupons are going mainstream. Cost effective mobile coupon campaigns are now within the reach of smaller retailers providing them with an easy way to drive profitable footfall and build customer loyalty. To ignore the potential of mobile coupons would be to ignore the future of mobile commerce.”
Other findings from the report include:
· The integration of mobile coupons and mobile payment data is rare and an untapped opportunity
· Redemption rates are set to rise in North America and Western Europe after a few years of experimentation and growing user acceptance
The Mobile Coupons Whitepaper is available to download from the Juniper website together with further details of the study ‘Mobile Coupons Update: Ecosystem Analysis & Marketing Channel Strategy 2011-2016.
Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.
Wine.com Launches Advanced Personalized Recommendations to Enhance Shopping Experience
Our two cents:
This is an excellent example of how a retailer (or in this case eTailer) is using technology to create more personalized shopping experiences. Wine is a complicated topic for many and personalization techniques create a clear way for shoppers to make easier purchasing decisions. Let’s look at some things wine.com is specifically doing:
- Customers who log into the site will now receive unique recommendations based on their recent purchases, product searches and purchases made by customers deemed similar to them
- Shoppers will also have the capability to personalize their own profile page, complete with a picture, recent site activity such as product reviews and searches, as well as wine club and Steward-Ship membership information
- One click checkout feature to ensure a seamless and speedy shopping experience
Can Geofencing Save Retail?
Our two cents:
The short answer is no. The reason? The showrooming phenomenon is a fundamental business problem and pricing is at the center of it all. Geofencing is marketing, and marketing will never (and historically has never) fix a business problem. What retailers have to figure out is a way to combat price sensitivity. One way to do that is though personalization, or an investment in technology that offers a unique set of content based on a shopper’s needs.
3 Types of Purchase Paths
Concept Overview:
While marketers would like to think that all shoppers fall into the same model of purchasing decision, the truth is there are many variations. These are the three most common. The trick for brands is to understand (usually though click-stream analysis) which type of path each shopper is on and cater the experience based on that. This is increasingly important in multi channel marketing as we see the majority of consumers say they are overwhelmed with the amount of content they must process before making a purchasing decision.
How to Create Decision Simplicity
Concept Overview:
In general, marketers are continually add more touchpoints to the shopper journey making it more difficult for shoppers to make decisions. Not only is this inefficient and expensive, but also overwhelms shoppers with a surplus of data and content to sift through in order to make an informed decision. We think that modern marketers will adapt a “decision simplicity” approach whereby they establish both trust and value for the brand using fewer touchpoints. Great article in HBR that dives into this topic.
Interactive Marketing Spending to Hit $76.6 Billion in 2016
Source: AdAge Digital, Cotton Delo Published: August 24, 2011
Forrester Predicts Huge Growth in Mobile, Search Along With Daily Deal Fatigue
A new report by Forrester Research forecasts that U.S. interactive marketing spending will reach $76.6 billion by 2016, equal to TV spending this year and comprising 35% of all advertising. That’s a big jump considering that this year interactive will comprise 19% of all spending, according to Forrester.
Search and display will continue to be the biggest pieces of the interactive spending pie, comprising 44% and 36%, respectively, in 2016, though search will have lost share from 55% in 2011. Mobile paid advertising and search will experience astronomic growth and are surpassing email and social this year, according to the report.
“This is the first year we saw growth due to interactive tools really gaining legitimacy in the mix,” said Forrester analyst Shar VanBoskirk, noting that search, display and email have become well-established lines in marketers’ budgets.
The report, “U.S. Interactive Marketing Forecast, 2011 to 2016,” projects the overall compound annual growth rate of interactive marketing spending at 17%, but the fastest-growing category is mobile at 38%, set to reach $8.2 billion in 2016. It attributes the surge to a push toward creating more targeted, dynamic mobile ads instead of so much repurposing of online ads; the rise of mobile commerce; and experimentation with new ad formats for tablets.
Search marketing will continue to be the biggest piece of the interactive spending pie — rising from $18.8 billion to $33.3 billion between 2011 and 2016 — but will actually lose share of all interactive spending in the same period, falling from 55% to 44%. Ms. VanBoskirk said the rise of biddable display media, the growth of mobile and investment in social networks and alternative search networks such as Facebook, YouTube and ratings and reviews sites such as Yelp will be factors in the drop-off of search’s interactive market share.
Investment in display advertising will rise from $10.9 billion in 2011 to $27.6 billion in 2016, driven by greater than 20% compound annual growth rates in rich media, text listings and online video. The rise of biddable display media and improved online ad management tools are cited as key factors.
Email marketing is projected to have a growth rate of 10%, bringing it to $2.5 billion in 2016, but the total spending is kept down because of its low cost of reach 1,000 consumers, or CPM. And widespread adoption of social media will continue, reflected in a projected 26% growth rate, but total spending will reach only $5 billion in 2016 as it’s also an inexpensive tool. (The report notes that listening platforms cost $5,000 to $10,000 per month, but a paid search budget can run up to $500,000 to $3 million per month.)
The report also predicts the rise of subsidized hardware from media giants such as Google and Yahoo, which would look to embed ads into the displays of smartphones, tablets and e-readers in return, creating the possibility of enhanced user targeting for advertisers. It also foresees the onset of daily deals fatigue.
“That will create consolidation and thin out the number of daily deal offers that are available,” Ms. VanBoskirk said.
Pinterest leads to sales
32% of shoppers have made purchases from what they’ve seen on image-sharing sites.
Pinterest isn’t just one of the fastest-growing social networks around. It is also driving shoppers to make purchases.
32% of online shoppers have made a purchase based on what they’ve seen on Pinterest and other image-sharing sites, according to a new survey from Bizrate Insights. These sites focus primarily on enabling consumers to select images and other content from the web, rather than posting original content as shoppers often do on sites like Facebook or Twitter. While Pinterest is the dominant image-sharing site, with 18.2 million unique visitors in March, according to web traffic measurement firm Compete.com, other sites in the category include Polyvore (which had 2.2 million unique visitors in March) and Juxtapost (13,340 unique visitors in March).
The report also found 37% of consumers have seen on image-sharing sites items they want to buy but have not. Bizrate’s report is based on a survey of 3,741 online shoppers conducted in late March. The report gave no similar data for Facebook or other social networks
Amazon.com is No. 1 in relevance, consumers say
The e-retailer beat out major multichannel retailers such as Target and Wal-Mart.
Consumers say Amazon.com Inc. is the retailer that is most relevant to them and their shopping preferences, according to the results of a consumer survey conducted by Brodeur Partners, a communications company.
Amazon.com, No. 1 in Internet Retailer’s Top 500 Guide, beat out 20 other national retailers to take the top spot. Rounding out the top five finishers in order are Target Corp. (No. 22 in the Top 500 Guide), Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (No. 6), Best Buy Co. (No. 11) and Costco Wholesale Corp. (No. 16.) More than 2,000 consumers between the ages of 18 and 65 took part in the online survey, which was conducted in November.
“Amazon.com has clearly cracked the code when it comes to being relevant to American shoppers,” says Brodeur Partners CEO Andy Coville.
http://www.internetretailer.com/2012/04/05/amazoncom-no-1-relevance-consumers-say
