MobileWebsiteWatch

Its no secret that American’s increasingly rely on their mobile devices for web access, and a new study by M:Metrics shows that they browse the web a lot, and the number is growing fast.  Highlights of the report include:

• American smartphone owners browse mobile web an average of 4 hours 39 minutes per month.  That’s a half a workday!
• About 11% of smartphone users have an unlimited data plan
• 9 out of the top 10 most popular smartphones in the USA offer a QWERTY keyboard, allowing robust interaction with all types of web functionalities on mobile.
• Sizable data pool used for highly accurate results, n=3500.

In a similar non-shocker, top domains included mostly web sites that offer sophisicated mobile optimized views, such as eBay and Facebook.  This shoudl serve as a pretty strong indicator that mobile web optimization a must for getting in front of your customers when and where it counts most–connecting with them on a more intimate level via their mobile device whcih they use for business, shopping, and organizing their social lives.

In a June press release by Cisco, the company talks about the results of its third annual e-commerce study.  The results?  Mobile commerce is charging to the forefront and is, in fact, already a large revenue driver with massive upside potential. Dick Cantwell, vice president of IBSG’s Retail / CPG Practice said of the findings

“Mobile presents a revenue opportunity for retailers and opens up a new era of multichannel retail.  Multichannel retailing has morphed into a web of shopper touchpoints across stores, catalogs, mobile devices, and the Internet. Retailers must start offering shoppers an ‘interconnected shop’ if they are to take advantage of the mobile opportunity.”

The study notes that companies that are already executing the basics of e-commerce well can gain the trust, and the repeat business, of customers who want a fast, reliable and hassle-free and seamless mobile experience. Adding a mobile channel will be a key aspect in allowing customers to execute their transactions whenever they are so inclined and wherever they may be.

What this means in practice

As retailers already well know, customer loyalty and product familiarity are key factors in driving sales.  Let’s consider a hypothetical example: a shrewd but longtime customer in the current economy will be comparing prices online and in brick and mortar stores across retailers.  Imagine a customer shopping for a kitchen table.  She looks at prices online.  Then goes to Store A to see the product up close.  She gets back into the car and drives to Store B to see if there is anything there that might be a better value or that she likes better.  While in Store B, she pulls out her mobile device and goes to the mobile web site of Store A and calls up the product information of the first table.  She decides the Store A’s table is superior, and now can complete the transaction right on the phone and either pick up the product or have it delivered.  If Store A did not have a mobile site, they would be betting that that customer would actually return to the store, or return home and order the product from the Web site.  But the time to close the sale may be lost.  When the shopper return home to the internet, she may look for another product before completing the purchase.  She may change her mind about buying a table at all.  The ability to allow the customer a transactional experience on demand is paramount.

This major revenue expanding opportunity is made evident in the study results.

Mobile access can help retailers provide a unique, satisfying e-commerce experience. Customers expect to use their mobile devices to find stores, research products, make purchases and manage their accounts. In anticipation of this market opportunity, retailers should allow customers to access retail product information anytime, from any device. In addition, with the rise of social networking, web-based multimedia, and mobile commerce, retailers can now select from a broad range of technologies to reach customers. Monitoring what innovative companies are doing in retail and in related industries will help retailers adapt best practices to their own circumstances and strategies.

Revenue is driven in multiple areas by mobile commerce channel

Let’s recall our previous scenario and consider it from a slightly different angle.  This time, our table buyer goes to her her favorite store, Store A.  She sees some tables and is close to deciding on one, but then thinks to herself, “Store B across town sells tables too, but do I want to go all the way over there, or is this one OK?”  She is not at home in front of the computer where she could check the retailers Web site and see what products they offered but she figures she still might be able to let her fingers do the walking by trying the retailer’s web site on her phone.  Store B has a mobile web site.  It loads up quickly and allows her to easily navigate to the product she is looking for.  Now our shopper sees a table she likes while standing in a competitors store.  Being the shrewd shopper she is, she is not going to buy it before seeing it in real life, so she goes to the store locator feature

on Store B’s mobile site and sees that a new location has opened up not so far away.  She drives to Store B, sees the table, likes it and buys it.

Conclusion: Simply by providing the customer access to your web site at their convenience, on the screen they look at the most, their mobile phone, traffic and and revenue in all areas: on the regular web site, on the mobile web site, and in brick and mortar locations will experience a positive lift.

The more your customer can interact with your brand, the more likely and often they are to purchase your products.

A new study released by research firm Juniper Research reveals that the market for gambling and betting via mobile internet is not only healthy, but growing faster than many other sectors when stacked up year over year.

The study, entitled “Mobile Gambling - a Good Bet for the Future” has highlighted sections on variou areas including casino style games, lotteries and sports betting.

Taking all kinds of mobile gambling service together, Juniper Research estimates that total wager in mobile gambling with total nearly $1.3bn in 2007, rising to more than $26bn in 2012. Gross wager in 2012 includes more than $3.6bn derived from the North American region and primarily in the US, where we are confident that existing legislation will be amended or replaced by 2010 at the latest, and that the increasing use of location-based application will allow state use of various gambling services.

Like any growth market that is this explosive, getting loyal user involved right away and building a presence and market share now will have a big impact on the revenues in two years.  2012 is only 3.5 years away.  Those who implement a robust mobile web solution that allows them to take even a few points of market share today strand to see it pay off many many times over when you consider the market ballooning to $3,600,000,000+ in the US alone.

You can’t even get those odds at the tracks!

Mobile tech today notes: The NPD Group said in a report Tuesday that 28 million cell phones were sold in the United States in the second quarter, a decline of 13 percent from the same period a year ago.

One important caveat is that NPD figures were based on online surveys of cell phone buyers, and exclude government and corporate buyers. Figures from another research firm, IDC, indicate that institutional buyers are making up for slackening consumer demand.

Ramon Llamas, IDC’s senior research analyst for mobile phones, said 42.9 million handsets were shipped to the U.S. market in the second quarter, up 6 percent from a year ago. IDC’s figures are based on manufacturer reports.

The average cell phone in NPD’s surveys cost $84, up 14 percent from a year ago, as sales of feature-rich “smart” phones nearly doubled. Cell phones with full-alphabet keyboards, like Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry models, saw the biggest increase. Meanwhile, sales of simpler phones used mainly for calls are falling off, Rubin said.

In a study released this May by design agency AKQA and dotMobi, a lot of illuminating data is brought to light. While the overall tenor of the “study” is slightly muddied by the blatant commercial interests of its sponsors, there are nonetheless, over 2,000 respondents, fairly selected by independent third party research agency, Research Now. The study, which focuses on the US and UK, and is notable for highlighting the similarities and contrasting trends in the two nations, has its data broken down in many many ways. The free PDF download contains over 80 pages, most of which are charts or graphs about niched subject matter surrounding mobile web use. Below are few of the more enlightening points:

• Approximately 90% of the 2,000 respondents are interested in learning about the mobile Web, demonstrating a need for brands to make their mobile properties findable via mobile search, marketing and advertising campaigns.

• 50% of respondents were unaware that there are mobile sites optimized for use on mobile phones and;

• The vast majority - 86% of participants - said they were interested in knowing which sites are easily accessible on a mobile phone.

• Nearly 50% of respondents said that a poor experience on their initial use of the mobile Web made them “reluctant to access” either the site - or the Internet in general - on their mobile phones again.

• Only 2% of participants in the survey who have purchased a phone in the past six months chose an iPhone. This indicates that brands that don’t optimize their mobile services for a variety of mobile phones will provide a substandard mobile Internet experiences for a vast majority of consumers.

• Poor site display and layout remain top reasons for mobile Web dissatisfaction among consumers.

• Almost two-thirds of participants stated that they would consider purchasing theater tickets, take-out food and travel tickets via a mobile phone.

• Finally, 63% of survey respondents said they would be more likely to give up their money than their mobile “smart phone” if they were mugged.

This study really showed a lot of things that are common misconceptions about the size and reach of the mobile internet today. For example, it is commonly though that the only people using the Internet on their phones are teens and young adults and an optimized mobile web experience will appeal most to them alone, yet this study finds that even in the higher age range brackets, the desire to know what is accessible from the user’s phone is remarkably high:

The take-away from survey graph like this is perhaps not immediately clear. While it is easy to see that interest in mobile web accessibility tilts more (although less than one might expect) toward the younger generations, the strong interest in accessing optimized content across all age groups really rives home an underlying, but indisputable and often overlooked fact: mobile users are a much more devoted and committed audience than desktop users.

Mobile users are purposeful internet users. They are not likely to be browsing idly and are by definition: on the go, needing information right away and, expecting to get it on their phone. Furthermore, there numbers are much higher than many think. This study concludes that, already, about 1 in 5 people access the Web on their mobile devices daily. However, if you add in all those who report using the mobile web at least weekly, you’re looking at more than 50% or users who access the internertt on their phones at least once a week!

If you’ve been reading avidly you’ll recall that in our previous post on Neilsen’s mobile web market report, it was revealed that there were 95 million mobile web subscribers in May 2008 in USA.  So lets do some quick math here:

OK, so if AT LEAST this many users are browsing on their phones today and want optimized content, how many are your customers? More importantly, how many do you stand to lose to a competitor that does offer a mobile Web site.

Or best of all, how many do you stand to gain at your competitor’s expense by providing an optimized view of your Web site? Couple that with the year over year growth rate of mobile web use and the answers require less than back of the envelope arithmetic to become apparent.

Our dedicated friends over at BerryReview.com just announced the results of their Blackberry use poll: “What Secondary Feature Do You Use Most” It should come as no surprise that, of the more than 500 users polled, mobile web browsing carried the day easily. With the Blackberry Bold on the way, the time for companies with heavy traffic from on the go business people should be considering implementing a mobile web solution more than ever.

A new study released by Juniper Research reveals that the global market for physical and digital goods purchased directly on mobile phones is growing at an alarming rate. The total value of mobile transaction is, at present, estimated to exceed $300 billion inside of 5 years. This represents an increase of more than 5 times the current volume.

Clearly, this points to some very large opportunities for companies. The study notes that by getting into the mobile game sooner rather than later, vendors can reap significant early bird rewards. Companies that can offer the features and functionality available on their websites to mobile users immediately will gain growing market share and avoid the rising barrier to entry as the market is complicated by multiple technologies and competitors that will sap loyal customers.

Some of the highlights of the paper include:

• Global annual gross transaction value will grow over 5 times by 2013

• The ticketing segment will be driven by consumer usage on rail, air and bus networks as well as sports and entertainment events This will represent over 40% of the global transaction value by 2013

Report author Howard Wilcox noted:

“Merchants in North America and Western Europe are just starting to realise the potential of a mobile web presence as a fourth channel to market. Retailers should be evaluating the benefits of the mobile web, and…they need to move quickly to exploit the opportunity presented, and ensure that they maintain ease of use for their customers who are already familiar with web shopping from their PCs.”

The full report is available on Juniper’s website for the low price of $3,440 for a single license.

In case there is still any question about whether or not the mobile internet is a “trend” new research released last week shows that sales of smartphones int he US are growing at 40% year over year while the rest of the market is at about 10%. When this is coupled with the fact that revenue from data plans is surging among carriers, it is clear that in the future (the very very near future, in fact), mobile web browsing will be as common as cellphone calls are today. Companies who take advantage of this today will reap the benefit of taking the time to be the go-to site for their niche on mobile before their competition can get in the game. This is much in the same way that Netscape beat Microsoft into the portal game in the 90’s.

Despite the slowing ecomomy: the paper points out that mobile phone sales grew 15% this year:

Despite a slowing economy, the global mobile phone market had solid double-digit growth in the second quarter, according to new data from IDC.

The report, “IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker,” said vendors shipped a total of 306 million units, a 15% increase from the same period a year earlier.

Since the start of the year, vendors have been wary of the potential decrease in demand for mobile phones,” said Ramon Llames, a senior research analyst at IDC, in a statement. “That has not stopped vendors from experimenting with and releasing a host of mid-range and high-end devices with GPS, touchscreen, and multimedia. This also goes for hotly contested emerging markets, where vendors are introducing phones that offer features in addition to voice telephony.”The report also said that smartphones are seeing growth rates near 40% year-over-year, while the rest of the industry is growing at roughly 10%. But the line between a smartphone and a feature phone is quickly blurring, and the research firm expects to see more mid-range handsets with higher-end capabilities.