The impact of mobile advertising in shopping

We’ve been discussing the moves made by biggies like Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft in mobile advertising and marketing for quite some time now. But the point I want to make is, mobile advertising and marketing can have an equally big impact, if not bigger, on small retailers just as it does on biggies. Surprised? Read on.

National Retail Federation usually has an annual conference in which retailers all over the country congregate and discuss various issues. In its last conference, the most important issue discussed was the role of mobile phone in retailing. Small shop owners and retailers agreed on the fact that they need to catch up with the technology of mobile phone and adapt themselves to mobile marketing.

The reasons, as always, are not hard to find. Let’s take a look at the impact of mobile phone in day-to-day shopping.

In Japan, you can use your mobile phone to scan the barcode of a product to check its freshness.

In South Korea, you can order a meal over mobile phone in McDonalds and you will be sent a mobile alert when the meal is ready.

A lot of companies use Bluetooth technology to send ads to customers’ mobile phones while they are in shopping malls or retail stores. You go to Starbucks and wait for your friend. You get an ad in your mobile phone which has a discount coupon for your favorite latte. Nine out of ten times, such an ad will result in a sale for the company.

With this being the case, retailers and small business owners are gearing up to enter their customers’ mobile space. Mind you, this is just the beginning, as mobile advertising is only going to get bigger. When it does, it will bring about a sweeping change in the way we shop.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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