Juniper: Mobile Marketing Retail Market to Hit $12B by 2014


Mobile coupons will dominate the mobile retail market in the early stages of its growth spurt, according to a new Mobile Marketing and Retail Strategies Report by Juniper Research. The report finds that one-to-one marketing allied with the rapid proliferation of smartphones will lead the growth of the entire mobile retail market to $12 billion by 2014.

The mobile retail sector — which includes mobile coupon redemption values, smart poster fees and advertising spending in Juniper’s definition — will, however, see mobile advertising exceed coupon redemption values by 2013. Overall, the growth will be fueled by the adoption of high speed mobile broadband networks and SMS messaging giving retailers new opportunities to communicate with customers.

Report co-author Howard Wilcox writes, “Retailers have recognized that, even ahead of their wallets, people will usually make sure they do not leave home without their mobile device. The mobile channel offers merchants the opportunity to differentiate from their competition and acquire customers that become loyal.”

This report is a more optimistic view of the mobile marketing industry versus yesterday’s-released report by Outsell which noted that mobile marketing spend will be down 16% in 2010 according to advertisers pre-planned budgets.

Other findings from the Juniper report include:

• For brands and retailers, mobile offers the ability to change campaigns quickly (for example by time of day), and crucially the ability to track the success and customer acquisition rates.

• Usage of the mobile in a live shopping situation can be particularly effective – for example for product price comparisons

• While the mobile will be an effective channel for younger users who organize their lives around their mobile phones, older demographic groups are likely to be less receptive to using their mobiles in a retail situation