Survey: Retailers focus on specific marketing channel

When it comes to marketing technology spend, retailers are overwhelmingly allocating dollars to a particular consumer touchpoint.



According to a new survey of more than 200 retail marketing executives from digital savings platform RetailMeNot Inc., "The Rise of Mobile Marketing Spend in Retail," 87% of retail marketers plan to invest more in mobile marketing in 2016.



In comparison, 73% of respondents plan to increase non-mobile digital advertising spend and 62% plan to increase their offline advertising spend.



Across various retail categories, marketers are increasingly shifting spend into mobile channels as consumers devote an increasingly disproportionate amount of time engaging with their smartphones.



The majority of those surveyed feel that their efforts are on pace with other middle-of-the-pack industry retailers (53%). To stand out from the crowd, nearly four in 10 (39%) retailers are ready to make mobile a major component of their budget (50% to 100% of their budgets).



While three in four (76%) retailers believe they are getting some value out of mobile marketing, One strategy retailers are using to ensure mobile marketing investments create a return is to deploy mobile as an omnichannel tool. Seventy-four percent of respondents surveyed in 2016 reported being responsible for digital promotions that drive both online and in-store sales, compared to 64% in 2014.



In addition, 75% of retail marketers surveyed feel that mobile unique promotion codes issued through partners provide above average ROI.



"Leaders in retail marketing have been increasingly investing more in digital media through mobile channels, and attribution capabilities are helping them to better understand the real net positive impact of these investments,” said Marissa Tarleton, chief marketing officer, North America, RetailMeNot Inc. “The findings of this study corroborate what we are hearing from our retail partners, including how many traditional marketers are struggling to make the shift as fast as possible while working to measure and understand the impact of these investments.”