According to the report, “Surviving the Current Market Mania with a Solid 2012 Plan,” by Bronto Software, while traditional digital channels such as search and email continue to dominate retailer marketing spending, social and mobile channels are growing in importance.
| Use of Mobile and Social Marketing Tools (% of Respondents; November 2011) | ||
| Tool | In Use Now | Plan to Use in Next 6 Months |
| Facebook fan page and/or shopping | 87% | 8 |
| Twitter publishing | 82 | 8 |
| M-commerce site | 29 | 42 |
| Bar, codes, QR codes in traditional advertising | 38 | 31 |
| Mobile application | 19 | 27 |
| Collecting SMS opt-in (all channels) | 14 | 29 |
| Texting marketing messages | 7 | 29 |
| Texting transactional support messages | 6 | 26 |
| Source: The E-tailing Group, November 2011 | ||
Marketers are also seeking to improve data analytics capabilities to identify the most profitable channels and design the optimal marketing mix for driving engagement and sales. Important tactics include:
| Planned Improved Tactics | ||
| % of Respondents | ||
| Tactic | Critical | Very Important |
| Capturing phone numbers during call center transaction | 13% | 15% |
| Capturing phone numbers during online transaction | 10 | 16 |
| Capturing phone numbers during retail transaction | 3 | 12 |
| Executing email campaigns with SMS opt-in objectives | 5 | 9 |
| Executing traditional marketing or advertising campaigns with SMS opt-in objectives | 1 | 9 |
| Source: The E-tailing Group, November 2011 | ||
Respondents, when asked how they are likely to allocate their 2012 digital marketing budget, as their top priorities retailers identified:
- Paid search (30%)
- Email (18%)
- SEO/natural search (11%)
In the coming year, retailers said they may shift these priorities in response to changing dynamics in today’s marketing landscape with plans to allocate more spending to SEO/natural search, social strategies (blogs, social networks), email, and retargeting/behavioral marketing. Regarding revenue generation, merchants surveyed said that they expect top-performing channels will be:
- SEO (31%),
- Mobile (mCommerce, iPads, mobile application (30%)
- Email (22%)
- Paid search (22%)
- Social media (14%)
