If you were lucky enough to receive a new phone at Christmas, then you were not alone. A report released by Analytics company Flurry announced that more than 1.2 billion apps were downloaded in the last week of December suggesting that mobile devices were a popular gift for the holiday period.
Flurry, predicts that this will become a regular occurrence going into 2012 as the number of owned mobile devices increases. The single day record for device activations previously from Christmas Day 2010 stood at 2.8 million. This increased by 140% to 6.8 million on Christmas Day 2011 .
The figures show that we are moving to an increased reliance on mobile devices for a range of purposes from television consumption to checking emails or even locating friends. If businesses don’t already have an app, then they should be developing apps going into 2012 if they want to increase customer reach and engagement.
The expected increase of M-Commerce has already indicated how consumers purchasing behaviour is changing and this will no doubt filter through to other aspects of their life including socialising and entertainment. Therefore, I think it is incredibly likely that the current record for single-day application downloads will be broken in the near future.
Do you have a favourite app? Leave a comment below and let us know your thoughts.
Whilst I think the idea behind the QR code is a great way for marketers to create added value for content, they are ugly and somewhat inaccessible. They are off putting to users and often get plonked in with little explanation. It’s unsurprising then, that uptake is very low. Jane McPherson, CMO from Spyderlink explains, “Just 35 percent of U.S. mobile phone subscribers in the U.S. have a smart phone, and of those, just 17 percent have a QR code reader app.”
In a quest to bridge the gap between digital and print media, the SnapTag from Spyderlynk offers a possible solution. QR codes allow little opportunity for branding, as they are restricted to website links being coded within the entire design. However, SnapTags contain code only within the outer ring, with a designed centre image. The familiarity of the branding means users have a better understanding of what it is they are scanning.
An added bonus of Snaptags, unlike QR codes is that they don’t necessarily require a specialist app to read it. Users can take a photo of the SnapTag and send via MMS instead, making the SnapTag widely accessible.
The SnapTag is used in a similar way to QR codes. For example, women’s lifestyle magazine Glamour has used the SnapTag within their magazine with an emphasis on social. Facebook Likes and Twitter Follows are given an incentive, with entries into competitions and access to exclusive content. By giving users new ways to access content, and combining it with social means that content has the potential to become more widespread and more easily shared, bridging the gap between traditional, social and mobile marketing platforms.
The infographic (click to enlarge) below outlines the differences between QR Codes and SnapTags.
What are your thoughts on QR codes and SnapTags? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Barclays Corporate has announced that mobile commerce (m-commerce) is expected to reach £19.3 billion by 2021. These figures are 15 times higher than current spending of £1.3 billion.
Currently 52% of consumers use a mobile device at one or more stages of the shopping process. This highlights the importance of taking into account that mobile phones play a key part in purchasing behaviour. Retailers should be thinking about making mobile a core part of their strategy in the near future, as an increasing number of consumers reach for their phones when shopping.
The report from Barclays Corporate states that m-commerce is expected to increase by 55 %, whilst online sales are only expected to grow by 8 percent. They have contributed technological improvements to m-commerce growth such as 4G and Near Field Communications.
91% of adults in the UK own a mobile phone and there are 33.1 million 3G mobile subscriptions (Source: Ofcom) so the reach of m-commerce is huge. Unsurprisingly Argos, Tesco, Asda and Next are among the ten most visited websites via mobile. If retailers want to reach their consumers, then having a mobile optimised website is crucial. Even if transactions aren’t possible, mobile can form the research stage of the shopping process and contribute to the final purchase.
The potential of m-commerce has been proven by the online fashion retailer ASOS. They have reported an 800% year-on-year growth in mobile revenues and currently generate £1 million a month in revenue through the mobile site. The ease of use and accessibility of mobile makes it the ideal way to fit in shopping into a busy lifestyle. Retailers who don’t have m-commerce sites could be losing out a large proportion of sales.
M-commerce is set to revolutionise consumer purchasing habits and retailers need to start taking action now. Leave a comment and let us know what you think about m-commerce.
Report via Barclays Corporate
