Friday, November 18, 2011

What's next? Cross-channel monetization

Hello blog. It's been a while. back for a quick visit, let's see how long this lasts..

Anyway, I'm reading this morning an insightful survey from Limelight. Mobile shoppers expectations, experiences etc. All the good stuff.
What caught my eye and has been on my mind is quantifying the cross-channel revenues topic. according to Limelight:

  • 76% (shoppers) have purchased a product at the store after they have researched the product on their Internet-connected mobile device but did not purchase it on that device
  • 72% have purchased a product on the retailer website on the computer after they have researched the product on their Internet-connected mobile device but did not purchase it on that device

Further, 71% of respondents report using their Internet-connected mobile device to research products while they are physically in the store.

Clearly, mobile has a significant contribution to the overall bottom line in a way that's never been measured before. Most of it, indirect. Why is this critical? in an early ecosystem, many people 'get' the need to have a mobile strategy and are executing on it. But in the lack of clear, quantifiable success metric, your mobile strategy is nothing other than cute.
Perhaps one way to address this is to isolate those online revenues for which the search was 'short' (whatever that means..). That seem far from being accurate.
Figuring this metric out in a way that is transparent to the shopper will help, I believe, many retailers to measure success and further invest in their mobile strategy.

Interested in your thoughts. Maybe I'm behind and someone already figured it out, I'd love to learn about it.