The number of smartphone owners has reached 72 per cent in the UK, growing by 14 per cent in the last 10 months alone, according to research from Deloitte. This increasing figure, and talking point, encouraged me to find out how supermarkets can use this to their advantage. With instant access to the Internet and the ability to download applications, the UK consumer has the opportunity to buy any product, of any value, anywhere at any time. This raises the question ‘whose opportunity is it… the consumer or the seller?

Whose opportunity is it?

Internet orders placed at grocers and online food specialists for home delivery and customer collection, as of 2014, accrue to £7.7bn of the UK grocery market sales.

This staggering figure is only due to increase through technology development, technological trends as well as the process being efficient and reliable. Therefore it is increasingly important for supermarkets to address this opportunity with regular updates and management of advertising on mobile sites.

Online consumers are looking for easy and inventive ways of shopping to increase efficiency of time consumption as well as the money they spend. InMobi (2014) states that a recent survey of modern UK grocery shoppers revealed they use their mobile to compare prices (46 per cent), collect promotions and discounts (35 per cent) and find nearby stores (28 per cent). The study also revealed that showrooming (where consumers compare prices from rival retailers on an item whilst in-store) is not just for bigger purchasing decisions, with 29 per cent of respondents admitting they look for better priced grocery items on their phone while in the store.

But what does this mean?

Its all very well being able to show facts and figures but it is necessary to understand what opportunities these statistics can provide for a supermarket. Advertising through the mobile platform provides a number of windows to gain a competitive advantage that would not be obtainable elsewhere. Mobile ads target an audience at their point of need making mobile advertising a popular and effective marketing strategy. Here are what I believe are the main advantages to mobile advertising:

• Round the clock access to consumers
• Increased consumer audience
• Increase brand awareness
• Cost efficient advertising
• Intimate and personal relationship is built

Further to this a mobile ad provides the opportunity for a consumer to access an organisations website instantly, encouraging on the spot purchasing and building further brand awareness.

The Future – Don’t get left behind!

Gartner analysts projected that mobile advertising spending globally would reach $18 billion in 2014, and by 2017 the market will be worth around $41.9 billion (Levanon, 2015). This suggests, if we didn’t already know it, that the future of mobile advertising is going to be extremely influential for marketers. With the average UK household owning 7.4 mobile devices that connect to the internet (E-commerceWeek, 2015) and the industry of mobile advertising in the UK worth £7.2bn it is up to individual supermarkets to address this opportunity to ensure they don’t get left behind.

References

Hoelzel, M. (2015) ‘Mobile advertising is exploding and will grow much faster than all other digital ad categories’, Business Insider. Business Insider. Available at: http://uk.businessinsider.com/mobile-is-growing-faster-than-all-other-ad-formats-2014-10 (Accessed: 15 April 2015).

InMobi (2014) ‘Mobile Has Disrupted How We Shop for Groceries – and That’s a Good Thing.’ Available at: http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/mobile-digital-marketing/mobile-has-disrupted-how-we-shop-for-groceries-and-that-s-a-good-thing/1192 (Accessed: 15 April 2015).

Levanon, C. (2015) ‘Top 5 Trend Predictions for Mobile Advertising in 2015.’ Target Marketing. Available at: http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/top-5-trend-predictions-mobile-advertising-2015/1 (Accessed: 6 March 2015).

Sarah Coleman Senior Retail Analyst – Multichannel and 2015, I. 10 M. (2014) UK Grocery Retailing. Available at: http://www.igd.com/our-expertise/Retail/retail-outlook/3371/UK-Grocery-Retailing/#3 (Accessed: 6 March 2015).

Styles, K. (2013) 7 in 10 People in the UK Now Own a Smartphone. Available at: http://mobilemarketingmagazine.com/7-10-people-uk-now-own-smartphone/ (Accessed: 6 March 2015).

Week, ecommerce (2015) Mobile now accounts for 23% of UK digital ad spend | News, ecommerceweek. Available at: http://www.ecommerceweek.co.uk/news/515/mobile-now-accounts-for-23-of-uk-digital-ad-spend/ (Accessed: 15 April 2015).