Advantages
Mobile offers a lot of opportunities, both for connecting with
new audiences and allowing brands to expand market share as they
gain insight on the behavior of consumers.
- Global reach: Mobile commerce allows brands to
enter markets they’ve never considered before. It’s estimated that
two-thirds of the adults in the world will own smartphones by the
end of 2018. This large user base offers a lot of potential sales
leads for brands.
- Better data: Mobile commerce provides brands
with better consumer data, as it’s part of the entire purchase
process. In a traditional retail setting, the consumer comes into
the store, makes a purchase, and leaves. Little insight is provided
as to why they make the purchase. With mobile commerce, brands can
connect with these consumers from the moment of discovery all the
way through purchase, giving the brand access to valuable signals
of purchase intent.
- Rapid expansion: Mobile commerce allows brands
to avoid market saturation issues by changing their slant and focus
to differentiate themselves from competitors. As new markets open
and are discovered they provide extensive sales opportunities to
brands.
- Scalability: Through mobile commerce, brands
are better able to scale everything from inventory to marketing.
For example, they can increase their mobile app marketing when
consumer interest spikes and downscale when interest wanes.
- Targeted timing: Mobile commerce allows brands
to reach consumers at the right time, whether they’re browsing for
an item in the evening or shopping in a store during a lunch break.
Geotracking technology and programmatic advertising help us connect
with these consumers in those moments before a purchase decision,
increasing the likelihood that the purchase will be completed.
Disadvantages
- Competition: Companies across industries are
shifting their attention to the mobile marketplace. That means
while there might be thousands of customers entering this avenue,
there are also thousands of competitors doing the same. Brands need
to find a niche or market to focus on to gain competitive
advantage.
- Increased fraud risk: The risk of fraud in
mobile marketing is high and marketers are largely not prepared to
deal with it. In one study, more than 60% of marketers admitted
they weren’t prepared to prevent fraud in their mobile marketing.
Brands should make sure their partners are compliant with TAG and
MRC standards, as this shows that these companies are aware of
fraud in mobile ads and are taking measures to prevent it.
- Privacy concerns: As companies are given more
access to consumer’s data, they also have a higher responsibility
to protect it. Brands and retailers should ensure that any
marketing partner they work with has a clear set of user terms, so
users know exactly how their data is being collected and
shared.
- Brick-and-mortar exclusion: Brands that focus
too heavily on mobile commerce could do so to the detriment of
their physical locations. One way to avoid this is to tie the
digital and physical space together by offering consumers a
shopping app. With shopping apps, like Shopkick, consumers can use
their mobile device to assist them with in-store purchasing or with
making purchases online.
- Less consumer connection: Mobile commerce and
online shopping are often seen as impersonal, which is why brands
must try harder to make a consumer connection. Offering consumers
rewards or personalizing messages can help remove the impersonal
feeling of mobile commerce.
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