Mobile set to power this Black Friday

Mobile marketing really is coming into its own – and what a relief for our currently underperforming economy. Not only is mobile powering the beleaguered retail sector but now we hear that experts predict the upcoming US Black Friday weekend is set to be the biggest ever. And they attribute the expected weekend sales records to the growth of mobile marketing in that economy.

With South African mobile users now having solidly surpassed the 35 million mobile user mark, and the proportion of smartphone users growing very nicely over the past decade, there is very expectation that we’ll similarly experience a stellar Black Friday weekend driven by mobile technology.

There is no doubt that retailers that incorporate mobile marketing into their overall sales strategies will reap the benefits of the millions of consumers who have transitioned from simply using their mobiles as communication devices to fully-fledged purchasing tools. From researching to actioning mobile-based purchases, the cellphone has become a 360-degree purchase enabler.

The growing importance of mobile is supported by figures from Google that show that 70% of customers purchasing in-store used their smart phones for research before the purchase and that mobiles have overtaken desktops and tablets as devices used for e-commerce, now accounting for 60% of all e-commerce visits.

Sadly, despite these encouraging findings, just about half of businesses are purported to be using such basic mobile marketing tools as SMS marketing as part of their marketing plans. SMS is the go-to mobile marketing tool for so many leading corporates and SMEs – it can be used by retailers to increase loyalty, boost online sales, and even encourage traditional in-store footfall. That’s something worth remembering this Black Friday weekend.

anton

 

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