Mobile adoption is occurring five times faster than other technologies. You can be sure a segment of your customer base wants to interact with your site from their mobile device.

The younger the demographic is, the more important it is to have a mobile application. Also if your demographic and customers are really into social media and your fans are following tweets, then a mobile application is probably very important. If your demographic is still shopping bricks-and-mortar, then investing in mobile may not be the best use of development or marketing dollars this holiday season.

Overall, you need to understand what your customers’ needs and wants are and spend that money appropriately to reach them.

Given that many people are traveling and away from the TV and their PCs during the holidays, and the fact that people need to do more in less time, mobile phones are one of the best places brands can exist these days.

Think about other forms of marketing and advertising—nothing has a continual touch point with the customer the majority of their day. People have their phone out at work, it’s with them—and likely their entertainment—on the ride home, and it’s even next to people when they sleep.

Studies have shown that people would rather lose their wallet than their phone. 

All that said, people still demand immediacy. Mobile sites need to load quickly, be quick to help solve a problem or let the user find what they want in a hurry.

The mobile site should to help increase efficiency and save consumers time. This gain can come in many forms. Give a customer the ability to research ratings, prices and reviews on your site from their phone, which will help them avoid the wait to talk to a sales associate. Shoppers can also save time by using a mobile site checkout to avoid lines or can even pre-order ahead of time from their phone and have their purchase delivered to their car outside of the store.

Mobile advertising is significant/necessary for marketers during the 2010 holiday season.

Of those who used their phone, forty-five percent used it for research, nearly a third used it to get coupons or product reviews, and 25 percent used their mobile device to purchase a good or service.

Since the mobile commerce revenue numbers are projected to double from $1.2 billion to $2.4 billion this year, the 2010 holiday season will be no exception to the growth. 

Sixty-four percent of consumers between ages 18-34 used their device for shopping, while 33 percent of consumers over 34 years old used their device. These percentages will continue to grow, so being in the mobile space is more important than ever.

Mobile adoption is occurring five times faster than other technologies, with no signs of slowing. The ever increasing use of mobile devices by consumers is giving savvy retailers a huge opportunity to cut through the clutter of a busy marketing world and communicate directly and effectively to customers.

New data from mobile analytics and billing firm Bango Inc. of Cambridge, England. show that mobile Web activity from Android devices grew by 400 percent between the first and second quarters, coming at ample cost to Apple.

A major reason for the Android surge is that more mainstream manufacturers, including HTC, Motorola and Samsung, released quality Android-based handsets this year. Also, being on multiple carriers, as opposed to just AT&T, has helped Android gain on iPhone. Androids's Version 2.1 started to provide the capabilities and style that consumers were looking for, while the browsing and user interface capabilities made browsing the Web easier and more enjoyable.

Android is increasingly becoming the mobile operating system for a new range of phones from Motorola, Sony Ericsson, LG and Samsung, as well as HTC, which had been the main provider up to that point.

Slice of Apple

Apple, growing by only 13 percent in the same quarter demonstrating a market share decline of 16 percent. Possible implications for marketers are audience reach and volume in addition to audience growth.

“BlackBerry represents the biggest mobile audience and, as such, should not be overlooked,” said Andy Bovingdon, vice president of product marketing at Bango. “They potentially represent the highest ROI opportunity for marketers, partly due to the number of users you can reach and due to lower marketing competition – others are Apple-chasing.”

Mr. Bovingdon said the number of Android phones on the rise has begun to threaten Apple, jeopardizing its spot as the “cool phone.”  “What do marketers want their brand to be associated with?” Mr. Bovingdon said. “The solid reliability of BlackBerry or the innovative, fast growth of Android?”

Fruits of labor

Mr. Bovingdon advises marketers to initially work on their strategy by identifying the audience and demographics, and then determine which platforms to target.

Looking to the future, Mr. Bovingdon recommends marketers keep their eye on Android.
 
“Android is the one to watch, and by targeting marketing across a range of Android handsets it now represents a market that is starting to be worth addressing,” said Mr. Bovingdon.

“Android could soon overtake Apple and start to gain ground on BlackBerry in the U.S.,” he said. “Android could be the new iPhone to link cool brands with before everyone jumps onboard.”

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Bango offers services that facilitate commerce for companies targeting Web-enabled mobile phone users. Its products collect payment from consumers for services and provide analysis for mobile marketing campaigns.

Buoyed by the success of its mobile iPhone application, Pizza Hut is about to get more ambitious with iPad and Android apps.

Brian Niccol, chief marketing officer at Pizza Hut, Dallas showcased new menu items that consumers can buy via their mobile device. In addition, the “Your Favorites. Your Pizza Hut” lunch unveiled the company’s new brand campaign.

“We want our pizza to become a favorite memory,” Mr. Niccol said. “When I came onboard five years ago, Pizza Hut didn’t even have a Web site where people could order pizza.

“In the future, I see mobile accounting for almost 50 percent of our orders,” he said.

Pizza Hut is an American restaurant chain and international franchise that operates more than 10,000 restaurants in more than 90 countries. It offers different styles of pizza along with side dishes such as pasta, buffalo wings, breadsticks and garlic bread.

According to Mr. Niccol, mobile and social media plays a big part in the company’s multichannel strategy.

Although Mr. Niccol would not divulge what functionalities the iPad and Android application will feature, he did share that more consumers are purchasing pizza via their mobile device than online.