Mobile marketing spend to smash US$55bn by 2015

As retailers increasingly utilise mobile devices as a touchpoint on each stage of the retail lifecycle, the annual spend on mobile marketing will reach US$55 billion.

Representing almost double the $28 billion level expected this year, a new report from Juniper research says the development of a mass tablet market has created new opportunities for brands seeking to enhance engagement with consumers.

With eCommerce migrating to mobile and nomadic devices, adspend on both tablets and smartphones is continuing to grow strongly as retailers migrate their own spend to digital in general, and mobile in particular.

The research company also says mobiles were driving retail footfall through coupons, with couponing apps becoming an increasingly popular mechanism of distribution and coupon storage.

There is now an increasing trend towards the development of additional distribution channels – such as AR (augmented reality) and NFC (near field communications) – as mobile becomes increasingly integrated into in-store retail strategies.

But Juniper did caution that while retailer engagement with mobile channels has increased dramatically, many had still not optimise their sites for mobile browsing, registration or payment.

“If retailers truly want to maximise the mobile monetisation opportunity, then optimisation is critical," says Dr Windsor Holden, report author.

"If you are using mobile advertising for consumer acquisition, you need to push users to a site with which they can comfortably interact; retailers that fail to respond to consumer demand will fall behind.”

Other key findings include:

* Brands are increasingly seeking to integrate campaigns across mobile social networks such as Foursquare and Facebook

* Brands and retailers need to ensure that mobile ads are frequency capped to prevent overexposure