Study: Mobile promotions pay dividends for retailers

Purchases from mobile devices continue to rise and upping ad spend is driving results for retailers.



According to data from Rakuten Marketing., purchases from smartphones that originated from a display ad on a computer increased by 52% between the third and fourth quarter of 2015. During that time tablet purchases that resulted from a display ad on a computer grew by 125%.



For the full year 2015, there was a 106% increase year-over-year revenue attributed to mobile campaigns. The beauty & personal care vertical benefited most with a 383% year-over-year increase. Average mobile campaign performance improved 283%. In comparison, social campaign performance rose 46%.



Other notable findings include:

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  The apparel & accessories vertical increased its spend on mobile campaigns by 609% between the first and fourth quarters of 2015, with 51% of that spend occurring in the fourth quarter.


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  Apparel & accessories brands benefited most from mobile campaigns, with an average 2,518% increase in year-over-year performance.


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  Beauty and personal care brands led social campaign performance with an average 54% year-over-year increase in results.


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  Advertisers doubled down on display marketing (retargeting and prospecting) on social networking platforms (Facebook and Instagram) where ad spend increased 100% during 2015.


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  For 2015 year-over-year revenue growth, Rakuten Marketing clients experienced 102% growth in same-store revenue attributed to display campaigns. This includes revenue from campaigns across devices, inventory sources and campaign strategies measured for same store clients across campaign types and key verticals including retail, consumer goods and auto.

Rakuten Marketing analyzed a year’s worth of data how its clients’ advertising campaigns performed in 2015.