According to the latest research conducted by Forrester Research and Shop.org, increasing popularity of mobile applications among consumers is driving online retailers to speed up their mobile marketing initiatives.

Thus far, almost 75% of online merchants currently have or are developing a mobile strategy. At the same time, 20% have a mobile strategy already settled.

As said Scott Silverman, Executive Director of Shop.org, m-commerce has tremendous potential and will no doubt grow to become a significant part of overall sales volume in years to come.

As the report says, retailers are spending nearly 40% of their marketing budget on paid search.

With mobile strategies online retailers:

·         Are investing in features that support the cross-channel experience. Product and price information, store information, and coupons to support the in-store experience are among the most popular features that retailers are offering consumers.

·         Have varied level of investment. While respondents anticipated spending on average $170,000 on their mobile sites this year, large multichannel retailers are spending several times that amount, while smaller online pure plays on average are investing much less.

·         Are experiencing modest gains. Retailers reported that their mobile browsers are generating a little less than 3% of overall site traffic and just two percent of revenue.

Asking the consumers, the research found 28% sees social marketing has helped grow their business, direct sales from social tactics are not widely measured.