The iPhone 4 was released a few weeks ago and the results have surpassed the hype with 1.7 million phones flying off the shelves in the first three days alone. The iPad hasn’t done too shabby either, reportedly passing 3 million sales in the first 80 days. So, what does this mean for the future of retail sales in the mobile space?
I thought we could turn to the folks at Internet Retailer to help answer the question. They suggest the iPhone 4 alone will change the mobile commerce game and a study from the National Retail Federation and BIGresearch found those predictions to be fairly accurate. According to the survey 41.5% of adults want a cell phone with Internet access, compared to 32.6% in July 2008. Similarly, 51.4% of adults aged 18 to 34 say they want to be able to surf the web on their phone, up from 41.0% in July 2008.
According to Internet Retailer, today there are 150 million e-commerce sites only, but only 157 retailers engaging in mobile commerce, and only 71 retailers offering mobile apps. This begs the question, when will all brands begin shifting to a consistent and more mobile-based presence? The numbers above, even if they are off by a few percent, will leave any organization not invested in servicing their mobile customers as well as their traditional web consumers, struggling to maintain market share and revenue growth.
When do you think widespread adoption of e-commerce offerings that provide an exceptional and consistent cross-device experience will hit the tipping point? How are you using mobile marketing to reach customers?
